34 FARM WP]EDS OF CANADA 



COUCH or QUACK GRASS (Agropyron repens (L.) Beauv.) 



Other English names: Scutch, Twitch, Quitch Grass. 

 Other Latin name: Triticum repens L. 



Introduced from Europe. Perennial, by wide-spreading 

 but shallow fleshy rootstocks, forming large matted beds. 

 Flowering stems rather freely produced, smooth above, downy 

 below. Flowers in 3 to 7-flowered spikelets, forming a narrow 

 spike with the spikelets lying flat against the stalk. Leaves 

 dark green, rather distinctly ribbed, and more or less hairy 

 below. 



The seeds in the scales (Plate 72, fig. 6) are about 3/8 of an 

 inch long. The kernel is shaped like a small grain of wheat 3/ 16 

 of an inch long, with wide-open groove. The basal end which 

 bears the germ is pointed, while the other end is blunt and fuzzy 

 The seeds are a common impurity in seeds of the coarser grasses, 

 and in litter from hay or straw containing mature Couch Grass. 



Time of flowering: About the end of June; seeds ripe in 

 July. 



Propagation: By seeds and creeping rootstocks near the 

 surface of the ground. When the rootstocks are broken by plow 

 or cultivator, each segment is capable of forming a new plant; 

 these pieces may be carried from field to field on farm implements. 



Occurrence: Widely distributed throughout Canada and a 

 most injurious weed in all kinds of soil. Abundant east of the 

 Prairie Provinces and also in a few localities in the West. 



Injury: A most persistent weed in all deep-plowed lands 

 and in all crops, with great power of spreading and choking out 

 other plants. 



Remedy: Let the plant exhaust its substance in the pro- 

 eduction of a hay crop, which should be cut and removed as soon 

 as the head is formed and before it is in bloom. Plow shallow 

 and cultivate until the rootstocks have been brought to the 

 surface by implements that can be forced, after repeated appli- 



