DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME COMMON WEEDS 227 



to eighteen-seeded capsule, opening transversely, so that 

 the' top falls off like a lid and the loose partition which 

 holds the seed falls away; seeds angled, reticulated. A 

 common weed, found everywhere, especially along the 

 waysides and near dwellings. Naturalized from Europe. 



Rugel's Plantain (Plantago Rugelii, De- 

 caisne). Leaves paler and thinner than 

 in P. major; flowers borne on long, thin 

 spikes which become attenuated at the 

 end ; sepals oblong, acutely keeled ; cap- 

 sules opening below the middle, four to 

 nine-seeded. Maine and Ontario to Min- 

 nesota and Kansas and southward to Flor- 

 ida and Texas. 



Rib Grass or Buckhorn (Plantago lanceo- 

 lata, L.). A pubescent perennial or bien- 

 nial with a short, erect rootstock ; leaves 

 narrowly oblong-lanceolate, somewhat 

 shorter than the scape, and three to five- 

 ribbed; scapes slender with dense spikes, 

 at first capitate, later becoming cylindri- 

 cal; bracts and sepals dry and brownish; Fig. 143. 



sepals four, persistent ; corolla smooth ; Bu ckhom (Plan- 

 , . ..... T , , taao lanceolata). 



seeds two in each division. Introduced 



largely by means of its seed, which is frequently an im- 

 purity in clover seed. Also known as ribwort, ripple 

 grass, plantain and English plantain ; a troublesome weed 

 in the clover fields of the eastern states and becoming in- 

 creasingly common to Iowa fields. Bracted plantain (P. 

 aristata) has narrow, linear bracts, two to six times as 

 long as the flowers ; loosely hairy, but later becoming 

 smooth. Dry plains and prairies from Illinois to Louis- 

 iana and westward ; naturalized eastward on the coast. 



Madder Family (Rubiaceae). Trees, shrubs, or herbs 

 with entire, simple, opposite or whorled leaves ; flowers 

 often dimorphous ; calyx teeth adherent to the ovary ; 



