CHARLOCK 103 



Abroad it is cultivated for the sake of the oil in the seeds, which are 

 used for different domestic purposes. It is valued as a bird seed and 

 for feeding poultry. It is used in oil for soap-making, and in oilcake, 

 for which it is cultivated in some places. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



33. Camclinasativa, Crantz. Stem tall, erect, radical leaves stalked, 

 entire, those on the stem auricled, flowers yellow, minute, pods inflated, 

 obovate, valves keeled. 



Charlock (Brassica arvensis, O. Kuntze) 



Widely dispersed as it is, no seeds of Charlock have yet been found 

 in Pre- or Post-glacial beds. It is found in the Warm Temperate Zone, 

 in Europe, N. Africa, X. and W. Asia, as far as the Himalayas, and 

 has been introduced into America. 



The Common Charlock, unfortunately for the farmer, is found in 

 every county in Great Britain, and in Ireland and the Channel Islands. 

 It is found at elevations of over 1000 ft. 



Charlock is above all a constant denizen of cultivated ground, being 

 evident when in flower in every cornfield, in some cases in such quan- 

 tity as to give a sulphur-yellow colour to the field. But it often strays 

 beyond arable land, and is found by the wayside with poppies on the 

 bare ground where stone heaps have sometime stood, or along the 

 margin of the macadam, where seeds accumulate in the gutter, amongst 

 numerous similar stations. And then it is to be found in every stack- 

 yard and on manure heaps, or where they have once been made. 



Being short, roughly hairy, and branched often into two parts about 

 halfway up the stem, Charlock is a compact shrubby plant, with stalked 

 lower leaves, somewhat divided, with the lobes larger upwards, rough, 

 and the upper stalkless, entire, finely toothed, with the lower part of 

 the stem tinged a milky purple colour. It grows profusely in a scat- 

 tered manner wherever it is found. An alternative Latin name, Sinapis, 

 was given to indicate its turnip-like aspect. 



The flowers are bright yellow, and the plant is well distinguished by 

 its smooth, jointed, many-angled pods, which are longer by three times 

 than the single-seeded beak, which is flattened at the sides and conical. 

 The pods are nearly cylindrical. The seeds are black and numerous. 



The plant sometimes grows to a height of 18 in. It is in flower 

 from May till August. It is annual, and increased enormously by seed. 



The stigma is mature? first, when the flower is in bud, opening in the 

 early morning. At the inner side at the base of the short stamens two 



