539 



male and female flowers are found on different plants), numerous, 

 clustering on spikes. The stems, often more than three feet high, 

 yield a fibre which formerly was extensively converted into line 

 cambric. On waste lands, roadsides, and along hedges. 



Urtica ur ens (Small nettle). Indigenous to Europe and tem- 

 perate Asia. An erect branching animal, reaching in Australia 

 sometimes to a height of over eighteen inches, covered with stinging 

 hairs ; leaves roundish or ovate, deeply and regularly toothed ; 

 flowers numerous, greenish. Spreading rapidly in cultivated and on 

 waste lands. 



Cerustium rnlgntum (Chick-weecl ; mouse ear). Indigenous to 

 Europe. A succulent and rather variable much-spreading weed, 

 forming matted tufts when growing luxuriantly ; leaves small, ovate 

 to oblong ; near base of stems stalked, higher up closely attached 

 to stem ; flowers white, star-shaped. A very common weed in cul- 

 tivated soil and waste lands once broken. 



Silcnc <i I lieu (CatchHy). Indigenous to Europe, Western Asia, 

 and North Africa. A hairy and viscid plant, with rather wiry stems 

 and a straggling habit ; leaves narrow, the lower widening towards 

 the tip ; flowers small, pinkish white, set in a hairy calyx. 

 Generally found in cultivated land and made-up roadways. It 

 has been reported as poisonous, but I think erroneously. There is 

 little to fear from it in this direction, as none of the domesticated 

 animals feed upon it. It is entirely useless, although not very 

 aggressive. 



Spertfulu un'cnsis (Corn spurry). Indigenous to Europe, Asia, 

 and Africa. A slender annual, branching at the base into several 

 ascending stems, reaching a height of sometimes over a foot ; 

 leaves, slender, narrow, almost cylindrical, one to two inches long, 

 growing six or eight together in opposite clusters and spreading so 

 as to form a whorl ; flowers small, white, on slender stems ; seeds 

 abundant, black, slightly flattened. In northern Germany, imme- 

 diately after the rye has been harvested, this plant is frequently 

 sown and mown for fodder, but more frequently it is later ploughed 

 under to manure the succeeding crop of the winter corn. 



Altiplex horteusis (Garden orache ; mountain spinach). 

 Indigenous to eastern Europe and western Asia. An erect annual 

 with robust woody stem, reaching a height of upwards of five feet ; 

 leaves triangular, the upper narrow-, green above and whitish or 

 mealy underneath ; flowers small, numerous, crowded in a long 

 panicle. Found in cultivated soil. In Europe it is cultivated for 

 spinach. It makes good feed, but spreads readily in tilled soil, and 

 is very exhausting. 



Chenopodium album (White goosefoot ; fat hen). Indigenous 

 to Europe and central Asia extending to the Arctic regions. A 

 hardy, tough, erect annual, from one to two and a half feet high ; 

 pale green or more or less mealy white, especially the flowers \ 

 leaves stalked, mealy below ; the lower ovate more or less toothed, 



