82 



COMMON WEEDS 



6 to 1 8 inches high, much branched from the base, 

 somewhat hairy, with leaves finely cut into slender 

 segments. The umbels of small white flowers are at 

 the end and side of the stem, and the fruit is prolonged 

 into a very slender rough beak, i to 3 inches long, 

 hence the names of the plant. 

 Flowering occurs between June 

 and September. 



This weed is perhaps of suffi- 

 ciently early growth in spring for 

 much of it to be destroyed by 

 surface cultivation, but in corn 

 crops it may be necessary to hand 

 pull it, although this is too tedious 

 and expensive an operation on 

 large areas. Where very plentiful 

 it is worth while to take two root 

 crops in succession ; a late sown 

 turnip crop permits of much of the 

 weed being destroyed. Seeding 

 must be prevented. 



Hedge Parsley (Torilis nodosa 

 L.) is a plant which occurs on dry 

 banks, in hedges, and along the 

 margins of fields " from Forfar 

 southwards, rather rare in Scot- 

 land and Ireland" (Hooker). It 

 FIG. 20. Hedge Parsley (To- is common in calcareous corn- 



ri Us nodosa L. ). x i, with r , , , i i_ i 



enlarged flower! fields, and is an annual which 



flowers in May to July. Its 



stems are 6 to 18 inches high: ''Well distinguished 

 from all other British umbelliferous plants by its 

 prostrate stem, its very small, almost globular, simple, 

 lateral, and nearly sessile umbels of small pinkish- 

 white flowers, and by the outer fruits in each umbel 



