192 WEEDS OF THE FARM AND GARDEN 



quently bulbous; flowers perfect, regular or irregular, 

 hypogynous ; stamens as many or twice as many, or more 

 than the petals ; ovary one, three or five-celled ; ovules one 

 to two to each cavity ; fruit capsular. 



Alfilaria or Storksbill (Er odium 

 cicutarium, (L.) L'Her.). A hairy, 

 tufted annual with low-spreading 

 stem ; leaves and stem viscid or 

 sticky, pinnate, the divisions finely 

 divided or pinnatifid; flowers two to 

 twelve in umbel-like clusters, purple 

 or pink; fruit hairy and beaked, the 

 divisions spirally coiled when ripe. 

 Common along the Pacific coast, oc- 

 curring in grain fields and waste 

 places; also abundant in dry soils in 

 the Salt Lake basin west of the main 

 divide of the Rockies, in the southern 



Fig. 122. Alfilaria R oc ky Mountain region, and Texas; 

 (Er odium acutanum). . ,, . , ' 



occasionally in the eastern states; 



native to the old world, but per- 

 haps introduced into the United States for forage 

 purposes. 



Musky Alfilaria (Erodium moschatum, (L.) Willd.) 

 Pinnate leaves ; leaflets deeply and sharply serrate ; pros- 

 trate stem ; purple flowers ; resembles the foregoing, but 

 has a distinctly musky flavor, and pastures which are 

 once overrun with this plant have very little value as 

 cattle will not eat it. Native to Europe, Northern Africa 

 and Western Asia. Common in California, but has-been 

 reported in Massachusetts, Maine and Ontario. 



Caltrop Family (Zygophyllaceae). Herbs, shrubs or 

 tropical trees. Leaves mostly opposite, pinnate or two to 

 three-foliate with persistent stipules ; flowers perfect, ax- 

 illary. Petals same number as the sepals or none. 

 Stamens as many as petals or more. Ovary four to 



