WEEDS 



171 



the last century, and is now a familiar plant in waste grounds, 

 roadsides, railway embankments, and the like. 



Spotted spurge (Euphorbia maculata). The spotted spurge 

 is another of the mat plants, and is readily distinguished by its 

 small, thin, hairy leaves with a red blotch in the center, and 

 by its much-branched slender stem, pressed close to the earth. 

 The juice is milky. It delights in dry open places and grows 

 readily in soils too sterile for the growth of other plants. 



Photograph from American 



FIG. 120. A tangle of the common bindweed 



and Wire Co. 



Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). Its yellow flowers and 

 feathery heads of seeds make this most abundant rosette plant 

 too well known to require description. Its long and fleshy 

 taproot is often removed by digging, but if any is left in the 

 soil, it may originate new buds and produce a dozen or more 

 plants where but one was originally. 



Plantain (Plantago sp.). Three species of plantain are 

 frequent as weeds in grassy areas. Of these, Plantago major 



