lying loose at the bottom of the calyx. Few plants of the Mint family are 

 troublesome enemies of the farmer on properly worked land, but the nut- 

 lets of a few are often found in commercial seeds. One of the most strik- 

 ing of these is that of the Catnep, Nepeta Cataria, L. [Plate 54, fig. 33 — 

 natural size and enlarged S times], which is often found in Clover seed, 

 it is about one-sixteenth of an inch long, reddish brown, roundly oval, a 

 little flattened on the inner face. At the bottom of this face is the remark- 

 alile basal scar which has two clear white eye-like cavities, one on each side 

 of it above. 



The nutlets of the Dragonhead, Draco cephaluvi parvifiorum, Nutt. 

 [Plate 54, tig. 32 — natural size* and enlarged 8 times], and of the Hairy Mint, 

 Stachys palustris, Is'utl. [Plate 56, fig. 73 — natural size* and enlarged 

 4 times], have of recent years been found abundantly among the screenings 

 of western wheat and occasionally also among the gram. These two seeds 

 or nutlets are superficially much alike, but, when compared together, those 

 of the Dragonhead are longer (J inch) and narrower, being twice as long as 

 wide, more angular and somewhat winged or wrinkled along the angles near 

 the apex. The basal scar is large and curved, with a slit in the middle, giv- 

 ing it the appearance of a mouth; colour dark brown; the outer convex face 

 very indistinctly ridged lengthwise and granular-roughened. In the Hairy 

 Mint, the nutlets are smoother, dull black, rounded, nearly as wide as long, 

 the inner face only slightly angled at the centre and edges, the scar merely 

 a pale spongy spot at the sharp end of the nutlet. 



Somewhat resembling at first sight the nutlets of Labiates are the seeds 

 of the Sun Spurge, Euphorbia Helioscopia, L. [Plate 56, fig. 77 — natural 

 size and enlarged 4 times]. When examined closely, however, they are 

 easily recognized. They are rounded-oval in outline, rolling freely on a 

 smooth surface, a little flattened on the inner face, with a central sharp 

 ridge running to the apex; sides of the seeds not angled, as in those of the Mint 

 family, scar kidney-shaped, white and very conspicuous, hollowed out at 

 the base of the inner face; the whole surface of the seed coarsely netted 

 with raised lines. These seeds have been found several times among vege- 

 table and garden seeds. 



THE RIBWORT FAMILY, PLANTAGINACE^. 



This family in Canada embraces a few species of weedy stemless plants 

 with inconspicuous flowers borne in long slender spikes at the top of bare 

 flower-stalks or scapes. The fruit is a membranous capsule the upper part 

 of which, when the seeds are ripe, drops off whole like the lid of a box. 

 Although some species are very abundant on farm lands, they demand atten- 

 tion of farmers far more from the frequency with which the seeds are found 

 among those of clovers and grasses than as troublesome weeds in fields. 

 From their colour the seeds are very conspicuous among grass seeds, and 

 on account of their size they are difficult to separate from them. This 

 renders a knowledge of the appearance of the common kinds very import- 

 ant. The seeds of plantains may be roughly separated into two groups 

 according to their shape : in one division, the seeds are irregularly angular 

 like small grains of gun powder, e.g., the Common Plantain and the Pale 

 Plantain; in the other, they are boat-shaped, hollow on one side and rounded 

 on the other, e.g., the Narrow-leaved Plantain or Ribgrass, and the Bracted 

 Plantain. All of these seeds develop a coat of mucilage when thoroughly 



wette d, by means of which their distribution is much facilitated^ 



* The figure to show the natural size is slightly too large. 



74 



