10 



The Bulletin 



Common Chickweed. StelUria media (L.) Cyrill. 



A weak, sprawling, much-branched annual. Stems four to sixteen 

 inches long. Plant smooth except for a line of hairs on one side of the 



stem. Loaves small, ovate. Flowers 

 in leafy cymes, or solitary in the 

 axils of the leaves. Petals very 

 small, white, deeply two-parted. 

 Seeds numerous, very small, reddish 

 brown, roughened. Common every- 

 where, especially in lawns. March 

 to December, but flourishes espe- 

 cially in moist, cool weather. 



CONTROL 



This weed has, for a long time, 

 been particularly troublesome in 

 lawns, but of recent years has spread 

 to the hay fields and is literally "tak- 

 ing" many alfalfa fields and choking 

 ^^^^out the crop. It makes its most rapid 

 vegetative growth when other crops, 

 as alfalfa, clover, and the small 

 grains, are dormant and thus attains 

 an unfair advantage over them in 

 the struggle for existence. This 

 M^eed pest came to us in imported 

 lawn grass and clover seeds, and was 

 at first an object of curiosity, where 

 it is now, like the English Sparrow, 

 a. devouring pest that is well-nigh 

 beyond our control. The seeds of 

 this plant have remarkable longevity 

 and will germinate after having lain 

 ill the ground for years. 



The use of only clean seeds, clean 

 and thorough cultivation, turning the 

 land before the plants set the flow- 

 ers, and the use of smothering crops, 

 are among the best known methotls 



of eradication. 

 No. 7. Common Chickwekd (ik 



StELLAIIIA MKDIA (I.M TBIM, 



