34 



Fig 8. 



Pigweed, or Redroot 



Aninrantus retrojiexus (L). 



An annual, with pink root, stout, erect stem, and many branches. 

 It grows from 1 to 6 feet high. The leaves are light green in color, 

 and ovate in shape. The flowers are in spikes, which terminate 

 branches, or are from the axils of the leaves, and are green in color. 



The seeds (Fig. 8, a) are round and lens-shaped, smooth and shiny 

 black in color, resembling the seed of Lamb's Quarters, but slightly 

 smaller and thinner. An average plant produces 15,000 seeds. 



Time of flowering, July-September, 



Time of seeding, August-October. 



Dispersal — the seed is distributed by the wind and as an impurity 

 in grass seed. 



Eradication. Special attention must be given to fall cultivation 

 of the soil, so as to prevent plants from ripening, and to sprout and 

 destroy the seeds which have fallen upon the ground. The land 

 should be gang-plowed shallow and harrowed immediately after har- 

 vest, and cultivated at intervals until late in the fall, when it may be 

 plowed or ribbed up for a hoed crop the following spring. Subsequent 

 treatment the same as for Foxtail (Fig. 1). 



