WEEDS 233 



become a weed. It is 2 to 5 feet high, stout, and much 

 branched. Pods tipped with a sword-shaped, i-seeded beak. 



6. Black Mustard 



Brdssica (or Sinapis) nigra bears yeWow Jiowers in slender 

 racemes. Leaves, the lower ones lyrate, the terminal lobe 

 being large and often divided. Pods, ^ inch long, filled with 

 dark-colored, pungent seeds. Plant, 3 to 6 feet high, much 

 branched. 



Table mustard is made from the seeds of white and black 

 mustard. When powdered and mixed with warm water the 

 most pungent oil known is generated, causing strangulation if 

 breathed. 



In England, mustard is sown for forage. It is cut before the 

 weeds are ripe and fed to cattle. 



The oil of mustard is used in making soap. Sinapis (common 

 mustard) was known to the Greeks and Romans 300 years before 

 Christ. The mustard referred to in Scripture is thought to be a 

 small tree allied to the olive, whose fruit tastes like mustard-seed. 



7. Shepherd's-purse 



Capsella Bursa-pastoris. — Family, Mustard. Color, white. 

 Leaves, mostly clustered at the root, a few scattered on stem. 

 Much and variously cut. Time, spring and summer. 



Small white flowers grow in long racemes, the triangular 

 pods, silicles, rapidly forming below. The pod is 2-valved, and 

 the valves are boat-shaped. 6 to 20 inches high. 



8. Wild Peppergrass 



Lepi'dium Virginicum. — Family, Mustard. Color, white. 

 Leaves, thin, long, and entire on the stem; lower ones often 

 cut. Time, summer. 



Flowers very small, arranged in long racemes. Pods elon- 

 gated, flat, slightly notched in the middle, each cell containing 

 one seed. Taste, peppery. 2 feet high or less. 



