120 



THE INDIANA WEED BOOK. 



flowers have been seen as early as March 18. Then, while sitting 

 on an old log, I have had 



I-vy flowers besi'de me peep 



Upward through the ether blue, 

 Seeing stars which ever keep 



Hidden close from human view. 



It is common in Europe and among the Swiss, when worn on 

 the person in company with rue, agrimony, maiden-hair and broom- 

 straw, is thought to confer fine vision and to point out the pres- 

 ence of witches. The foliage was used in England until the time 

 of Henry VIII to clarify and give a flavor to ale, but at that period 

 was replaced by hops. The odor of the leaves is exhaled freely and 

 is strongly penetrating and peculiar, yet pleasing to him who, 

 through long experience, has learned to expect it on his daily walks. 

 The plant is very difficult to eradicate, and where found in lawns 

 and yards, resodding or spading and reseeding must be done, while 

 in fields fences should be removed and thorough cultivation used. 



85. LEONURUS CARDIACA L. Motherwort. (P. I. 2.) 



Stem rather stout, erect, somewhat branched, 2-5 feet tall ; lower leaves 

 rounded, slender-stalked, 2-5 cleft. Flowers in dense whorls, in the axils 

 of the narrower 3-cleft upper leaves ; calyx teeth spiny-tipped ; corolla pale 

 purple, upper lip concave, white woolly, lower one purple dotted; stamens 

 4, the lower or front pair the longer. Nutlets 3-sided, 1/12 inch long, 

 dark, smooth. (Fig. 83.) 



This is another common social weed, occurring about the sites 

 of old houses, barnyards, fence-rows and waste places in dry or 



sandy soils. June-Sept. Like the 

 catnip and ground ivy it was 

 brought from Europe, but is more 

 unsightly and useless than either of 

 them. It was once much used in 

 nervous and hysterical complaints 

 and an infusion of its leaves taken 

 at bedtime is said to produce sleep. 

 In March one often sees standing 

 stiffly erect, like brown monuments 

 of the past, the 4-angled stems of 

 last year's motherwort. On them 

 the dry fruit is in dense sessile 

 clusters an inch and a half apart, 



Fig. 83. Corolla split and spread to show ,-/*., , , ',' 



lower lip and 4 stamens; fruit on left above, calyx 8 to 1 of these clusters along the 

 on right. (After Britton and Brown.) . 



tapering spike. From 6 to 12 fruits 

 are in each cluster and from each 5 needle-pointed spines project, 



