PLATE 25. 



STINKING MAYWEED, Anlhemis Cotula. L. 



Other English names : Mayweed, Dog's Chamomile, Dog-fennel. 

 Other Latin name : Maruta Cotula, DC. 



Introduced. Annual and winter annual. Stems 12 to 18 inches, much 

 branched from the root up, forming a flat topped bunch of white, yellow- 

 ej-ed, daisy-like flowers, 1 inch across, on slender naked stems. Leaves twice 

 divided, with the secondary leaflets cut into linear segments. Whole plant 

 dull green, slightly hairy and with a strong unpleasant odour. Seeds [Plate 

 53, fig. 19 — natural size and enlarged 8 times] dirty yellow, small. yV. of an 

 inch long, ovate-oblong or oblong, truncate at the upper end with a small 

 knob in the center, abruptly pointed below, 10-ribbed with rows of coarse 

 tubercles, sometimes however, according to Prof. Hillman, nearly smooth. 



Time of Flowering : Summer to autumn; seed ripe by July, and young 

 plants sometimes abundant in September. 



Propagation : By seeds. 



Occurrence : A common weed in old settlements, around buildings, along 

 roads and in waste places, from the Atlantic coast to Manitoba, where it is 

 as yet rare and only found along railways, but is rapidly appearing in new 

 districts. 



Injury: Frequent on cultivated land. The seed a common impurity ia 

 clover and grass seeds. 



Remedy: Clean farming and the use of clean seed. Plants seen in 

 clover fields should be pulled by hand. 



In the Maritime Provinces the Scentless Mayweed, Matricaria inodora, 

 L., is found commonly growing with the above. The two plants resemble 

 each other closely, except that the Scentless Mayweed is a much handsomer 

 plant with flowers nearly 2 inches across and foliage of a dark rich green. 

 It lacks, however, the unpleasant odour and the seeds are entirely different. 

 Although varying much in size and shape among themselves, these are 

 similar in their structural markings. Prof. Hillman describes them, in his 

 most valuable Bulletin, "Nevada Weeds," Part III, 1897, as "varying in 

 length from one-sixteenth to one-twelfth of an inch ; the smaller narrower 

 ones are straight and rather prismatic in form, with truncate ends; large 

 seeds are relatively broader and Commonly curved in the direction of one 

 face ; they are sufficiently flattened to present two faces ; three well defined 

 broad ribs extend lengthwise along the usually concave face, broadly con- 

 nected at the apex and meeting at the base; the opposite convex face ex- 

 hibits the marginal ribs and a short partial central rib leading from the 

 apex and connected with the marginal ridges below two deep depressions, 

 which are separated by this rib. The surface between the ribs is black and 

 transversely wrinkled." The apex of the seed is excavated and bears the- 



.5.3 



