PLATE 17. 



SPURREY, Spergula arvensis, L. 

 Other English names : Corn Spurrey, Sandweed, Pickpurse. 



Introduced. Annual. Stems ascending, branching- from the base, 6 to 18 

 inches high, almost smooth, sparingly glandular hairy above. Leaves nar- 

 rowly linear 1 to 2 inches long, apparently whorled at the joints of the stem, 

 but really clustered at the joints in two opposite sets of 6 to 8 together, with 

 scale-like stipules between them. Flowers white, opening in sunshine, i 

 inch across, in terminal forked cymes ; peduncles deflexed in fruit. Seeds 

 lens-shaped or z'ound and compressed, with the margins extended into a 

 narrow wing, dull black, the marginal wing pale. The surface of the seed 

 is more or less covered with small pale-coloured elongated protu]>prances, 

 like gland-tipped hairs. These are sometimes entirely wanting, when the 

 plant is called variety safiva. Both the small protuberances and the wing 

 are sometimes lost by friction when the seeds occur among other seeds. The 

 seeds [Plate 53, fig. 8 — natural size and enlarged 8 times] vary much in size, 

 but average about j\ of an inch in diameter. The embryo is cylindrical and 

 spirally coiled within the seed. 



Y'lme of Flou-ering : -Tuly; seed ripe July- August. 



Propagation : By seed. 



Occurrence : Occasional in fields and waste, places throughout Canada, 

 but frequent in grain fields in the Eastern Provinces, and in parts of liritish 

 Columbia. Sometimes sown as feed for sheep or as a binder of soil on sandy 

 land. 



Injury : Troublesome on sandy land in the Maritime Provinces and in 

 British Columbia. The seeds are frequently found in grass and clover seeds. 



Remedy: Short rotation of crops. Frequent hoeing early in the season. 



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