i66 COMMON WEEDS 



in general appearance to the above, but larger. It 

 grows in damp meadows, where it replaces better 

 grasses, and should therefore be cut down, and if pos- 

 sible suppressed. 



Dog Rose (Rosa canina L.). -This favourite and hand- 

 some hedgerow plant may be as great a nuisance as the 

 Blackberry (p. 164). Where it is invading land, widen- 

 ing hedges, and rendering them bushy it must be 

 grubbed and cut out. We have frequently seen hedges 

 in which the Blackberry and Dog Rose have broadened 

 the " hedgerow " by several feet, a wide strip of ground 

 on either side of the hedge proper being thus rendered 

 useless. 



ONAGRACE^E 



The Willow Herbs (Epilobium hirsutum L. and E. 

 parviflorum Schreb.) are two perennials which occur in 

 damp fields and by streams and ditches, extending by 

 both seeds and suckers or runners. The former species, 

 the Great Willow Herb, known also as Codlins-and- 

 Cream, has woolly stems which grow to a height of 3 to 

 5 feet. The leaves are 3 to 5 inches long, and oblong- 

 lanceolate with incurved teeth, in opposite pairs. It 

 bears a large number of funnel-shaped, rosy-purple 

 flowers about \ to f of an inch across. E. parviflorum, 

 the Small-flowered Hairy Willow Herb, is a smaller 

 plant, i to 3 feet high, with sessile, lanceolate leaves, i to 

 2 inches long, and many rosy-purple flowers one-third of 

 an inch in diameter. Both species flower between July 

 and August. 



In order to reduce these weeds where they occur 

 abundantly in damp soils, draining may be neces- 

 sary ; but this is not always feasible, owing to posi- 

 tion near river or stream. In such a case the plants 

 should be cut over as fast as they grow, and a good 



