PLATE 14. 



PURPLE COCKLE, Lychnis GUhago, Lam. 



Other English name : Corn Cockle (used in England, where wheat is 

 generally spoken of as "corn";. 



Other Latin name : Agrostemma Githago, L. 



(Noxious: Dom., N.W.) 



Introduced. Annual and winter annual. Erect, 1 to 3 feet high; 

 branches few; whole plant covered with soft silky hairs; not viscid. Leaves 

 long and narrow, pointed, 2 to 5 inches long. Flowers purple, at the tips 

 of the stems and branches, li inches across; the petals notched at the apex, 

 paler toward the center; calyx ovoid, much swollen in fruit, with the ribs 

 very prominent, and the teeth long and conspicuous. Capsule ovoid, with 

 five teeth at apes. Seeds [Plate 55, fig. 49 — natural size and enlarged 4 

 times] pitchy lilack, varying from jV to ^ of an inch in diameter, somewhat 

 flattened, rounded triangular; the thin edge notched by the scar of attach- 

 ment. Rough, covered with rows of short teeth. 



Time of FJoicering : July ; seed ripe in August. 



Propagation : By seed. 



Occurrence: Grain fields. 



Iwjiiry : An impurity in grain. The seed when ground with grain dis- 

 colours the flour and renders it unwholesome, owing to the poisonous prin- 

 ciple sapotoxin, which is foxmd in this plant and some other Cockles. 



Remedy: Thorough cleaning of seed grain. Hand-pulling when in 

 small quantity. In districts where fall wheat is sown extensively, spring 

 grains s-hould be substituted for some time. 



36 



