106 COMMON WEEDS 



In regard to garden cultivation, although the Creep- 

 ing Thistle and Couch appear to be killed by deep 

 trenching, followed by continued good cultivation and 

 the free use of the hoe, it is advisable to remove all 

 the rootstocks of C. septum that can be found every 

 time the garden is dug. Between whiles thorough and 

 frequent hoeing should be practised, and if the weed 

 happen to climb a gooseberry bush or a raspberry 

 cane it should be promptly cut off below before flower- 

 ing is accomplished and seeds are shed. 



BORAGINE.E 



Viper's Bugloss (Echium vulgare L.) is a handsome 

 annual or biennial, sometimes plentiful on arable and 

 waste land, more especially on calcareous and light 

 soils. The root is spindle shaped ; the stem is i to 3 

 feet high, erect, stout, and leafy ; and the leaves at the 

 base narrow and stalked, those on the stem sessile and 

 lanceolate or oblong. The flowers, reddish in bud and 

 bright blue when open in June to August, are f inch 

 long, tubular or funnel-shaped, with five rounded 

 spreading lobes ; they are in compound spikes, the 

 small lateral components of which are curved and 

 spring from the axils of the leaves. The whole plant 

 is rough and bristly. 



In Britain this plant is not perhaps usually very 

 troublesome, but it is a " noxious " weed for the 

 Dominion of Canada, It is easily destroyed by good 

 cultivation and by hand pulling. 



Bugloss (Anchusa arvensis Bieb.) is a rough, bristly 

 annual, 6 to 18 inches high. The stem is simple and 

 angular, the lower leaves stalked and somewhat lan- 

 ceolate, while the upper are sessile, narrow, oblong, 

 and waved and toothed ; and the small blue flowers, 



