FOREST WEEDS OF WET PEATY SOIL. 409 



and church decorations at Christmas, and as a sign before a 

 public-house. Birdlime is made from its cortical parenchyma. 



Butcher's broom (Riiscus aculeatns, L.) grows in dense woods 

 in the south of England, it is unimportant for the forester. 



Nightshade (Solanum Dulcamara, L.), a small shrub growing 

 in shady, damp, low lands and along banks of streams, climbing 

 up to 10 feet in height on pollard willows and osiers. This 

 plant, as well as S. nigrum, L., which chiefly grows along road- 

 sides, is highly poisonous. 



Common juniper (Juniperus communis, L.) is a coniferous 

 shrub widespread all over Europe, in plains and mountains, 

 up to 6.000 feet in the Alps. It is very hardy and indifferent 

 to soils. It spreads owing to thrushes which swallow the berries. 

 Grows well in the open and also in dense pine woods. This 

 species and J. Sabina, L., are hosts of fungi that attack 

 Pomaceae (p. 419). Should be cut down or pulled up when 

 dangerous to young growth. 



4. Forest Weeds of Wet Peaty Soil. 



To this group belong the numerous species of the following 

 genera. 



Bushes (Juncus, L.), (Scirpus, L.), Cottongrass (Eriophorum, 

 L.), Sedges (Carex, L.), Beeds (Calamagrostis, Adams), and 

 Marestail (Equisetum, L.). 



All these, except the last, may be termed half -grasses, and 

 they all form sour herbage, and are chiefly found in lowlands, 

 or on peat, and are somewhat lightdemanding. Equisettim 

 arvense, L., is a troublesome weed in somewhat wet sandy 

 loam in forest nurseries, its rhizomes being deep down in the 

 soil, and their extraction requiring deep trenching. 



Sphagnum. Several species of this peat-moss exist and grow 

 chiefly in the open, in opposition to Polytrichum, which grows 

 under cover. They are most dangerous mosses, producing 

 peat and swamps, and rendering the soil unsuitable for forest 

 growth. They discharge their spores with an audible sound. 



The inyasion of sour herbage and peat-mosses is best kept 

 down by maintaining the leaf-canopy. If a swamp has been 

 formed it must be drained ; sometimes, however, on flat land, 

 with a tendency to swampiness, as shown by the presence of 



