124 THE WEEDS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Cat's Ear or Flat-weed (Hypocharis radicata L.). 

 (COMPOSITE: Thistle or Daisy Family.) 



Popular Description. A dandelion-like plant from which, however, it can 

 ireadily be distinguished by its less deeply toothed and more hairy leaves, 

 .and its branching- flower-stalks. 



Botanical Description. 



A hispid perennial, leaves all radical, spreading, toothed or pinnatifid. Stems 

 erect, branched, with large terminal flower- heads. Florets yellow, all ligulate. 

 much longer than the involucre. All achenes with slender beaks ; the pappus 

 iplumose. 



I regret the necessity for reducing the size of the plant in the accom- 

 panying plate, as it is likely to cause confusion with another species, but 

 any erroneous idea will, as far as the flower is concerned, be corrected by 

 ^examination of figure 1. 



Names. In Australia this is generally known as " Flat-weed," because its 

 leaves, like a rosette, lie flat on the ground. It is also known, to a not 

 inconsideraDle extent, as " Dandelion ;" this in ignorance, as it bears some 

 superficial resemblance to the true Dandelion (Taraxacum Dens-leonis). 



In Smith and Sowerby's classical " English Botany " the name is given 

 of " Long-rooted Cat's Ear," in contradistinction to other species of Hypo- 

 which are known as Cat's Ear. 



Objectionable Features. Like so many of our weeds, this comes from 

 ^Europe, Northern Africa, and Western Asia. It has now spread in every 

 Australian State, chiefly in grass paddocks. It is one of those plants with 

 which we are so familiar and which has no outstanding characteristics, that 

 little has been written about it. 



The chief objection that is raised to it is that its rosette of leaves 

 -smothers good grasses, and, as stock are not attracted by it, it often forms 

 large patches to the exclusion of most other vegetation. On a lawn it is a 

 positive disfigurement, especially as the long flower-stalks add to its un- 

 sightliness. It possesses no poisonous properties, and can only be got rid 

 of by means of the hoe, or some other cutting implement, which is of course' 

 only practicable where the cost of labour is relatively unimportant, as in the 

 case of a tennis-lawn. It is of advantage to cut down* the flowers by means 

 of a scythe or lawn-mower according to circumstances, but, like the Sow 

 Thistle, it is a matter of luck to what extent one's land may be re-seeded by 

 'it in any particular year. 



