DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME COMMON WEEDS 175 



work on the surface of the ground striking root at every 

 joint, thus crowding out more desirable plants and the pros- 

 trate habit of the plant makes it difficult to cut it off by means 

 of a lawn mower. The light seeds are readily scattered. 



Evening Catchfly (Lychnis alba, Mill.). A rather 

 coarse hairy biennial, more or less viscid, one to two 

 feet high ; leaves oval, oblong, usually pointed, tapering 

 at the base ; flowers in loose panicles, rather large, white 

 or pale pink, opening in the evening, usually dioecious; 

 sepals, five, linear-lanceolate, calyx swelling as the cap- 

 sule ripens ; petals two- 

 cleft, seed black, rough and 

 kidney shaped. Found in 

 clover fields, common in 

 Europe. 



Ragged Robin, Cuckoo 

 Flower (Lychnis Flos-cuculi, 

 L.). A short-lived peren- 

 nial from one to two feet 

 high, slightly downy below 

 and viscid above; leaves 

 lanceolate; flowers in loose 

 panicles, red, pink, blue or 

 white, scentless ; calyx 

 short, smooth ; petals cut 

 into four linear lobes, the 



two middle ones the long- Fi % I0 9- Evening catchfiy(Silene 



noctiflora). 



est; capsule nearly globu- 

 lar. In New England to Pennsylvania occurring also in 

 clover fields. The white or bladder campion, (L. alba) 

 with globular or ovoid calyx, two-cleft, occurs in the East 

 and is occasionally found in meadows. 



The Sleepy Catchfly (Silene antirrhina, L.) with slender 

 stems, joints glutinous, leaves lanceolate or linear, pink 

 flowers, is a common weed in sandy fields in the Missis- 

 sippi Valley, Colorado to Mexico. 



