178 WEEDS OF FARM LAND 



grass, creeping jenny, mint, sedge and marsh bedstraw. If 

 still more water is present the change is yet greater, and true 

 water and marsh plants appear, including marsh marigold, 

 arrowhead, lady's smock, watercress, pennywort, and purple 

 loosestrife, in addition to various species of rushes. 



A great contrast to the weed flora of damp land is seen 

 in that of well-drained high grass-land. The grasses, instead 

 of being lush and rank, tend to grow small and fine, and such 

 weeds as daisy, dog daisy, yellow rattle, pignut, sorrel, quaker 

 grass and rough brome are often abundant. Poor pastures on 

 dry land are frequently characterised by such weeds as milk- 

 wort (Polygala vulgaris) hardhead, beaked hawksbeard (Crepis 

 taraxacifolia\ salad burnet (Poterium sanguisorbd), thyme, 

 lady's mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris), and ragwort, while such 

 worthless grasses as false brome (Brachypodium pinnatutn and 

 B. sylvaticum) and soft brome (Bromus mollis) are frequently 

 present. 1 



Although it is not always possible to fix the status of a 

 plant as being useful or useless on grass-land, it may be per- 

 missible to make a rough classification as follows : 



A. PLANTS THAT MUST BE REGARDED AS WEEDS UNDER 

 ALL CIRCUMSTANCES. 



(a) Poisonous and Injurious Plants. 



Autumn crocus (Colchicwn autumnale). 



Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis). 



Buttercup (Ranunculus spp.). 



Crow garlic (Allium vineale). 



Horsetail (Equisetum spp.). 



Huffcaps (Air a ccespitosa). 



Purging flax (Linum catharticum). 



Ragwort (Senecio jacobaa). 



Ramsons (Allium ursinum). 



Wild barley (Hordeum pratense). 



All the above are fully described in Chapter VII. so no more 

 need be said about them here. 



iStapledon, R. G. (1910), "On the Flora of Certain Cotswold Pastures," 

 Scient. Bull. Roy. Agri. Coll., Cirencester, No. 2; pp. 29-46. 



