IOO 



COMMON WEEDS 



This Sow Thistle (Fig. 28) is an erect annual, i to 3 feet 

 high, with a tubular grooved stem, branched, smooth 



and shiny, and 

 " bleeding " with a 

 milky juice when 

 broken. The lower 

 leaves are stalked 

 and much lobed, and 

 the upper ones are 

 lobed or entire, 

 angular and toothed, 

 and clasping the 

 stem. The crowded 

 heads of yellow 

 flowers are smooth 

 or slightly cottony, 

 nearly i inch in dia- 

 meter, and appear 

 between June and 

 September. The pale 

 brown fruits are 

 attached to a feathery 

 pappus, by means of 

 which they are borne 

 away by the wind 

 and distributed far 

 and wide. 



Wherever the 

 Annual Sow Thistle 

 occurs the chief ob- 

 ject is to prevent 

 seeding ; this end 

 may be attained by 



cutting down the young plants with the hoe as fast 

 as they appear, and pulling out by hand any which 



Photo, 1908. 



H. C. Long. 



FIG. 28. Annual Sow Thistle (Sonchus 

 oleraceus L.). 



