64 FARM WEEDS OP CANADA 



lawns throughout Canada. The pods are much elongated and 

 curved upwards. 



The seed (Plate 72, fig. 18) resembles that of Common 

 Chickweed but the tubercles are fewer, less regularly arranged, 

 and more of the nature of short ridges than of low prominences, 

 as in the former species. It is rather more angular and not 

 much more than half the size. 



PURPLE COCKLE {Agrostemma Githago L.). 



Other English name: Corn cockle (used in England, where 

 cereals are generally spoken of as ''corn"). 



Other Latin name: Lychnis Githago Scop. 



Introduced from Europe. Annual and winter annual. 

 Erect, 1 to 3 feet high; branches few; whole plant covered with 

 soft, silky hairs; not viscous. Leaves 2 to 5 inches long, narrow 

 and pointed. Flowers purple, borne at the tips of the stems and 

 branches, 1^ inches across; the corolla divisions notched at the 

 apex, paler toward the centre; calyx ovoid, much swollen in 

 fruit, with the ribs prominent and the teeth long and conspicu- 

 ous. Fruit capsule ovoid, with 5 teeth at the apex. 



The seed (Plate 72, fig. 19) is pitchy black, from 1/12 to 

 1/8 of an inch in diameter, somewhat flattened, rounded trian- 

 gular; the thin edge notched by the scar of attachment; rough, 

 covered with rows of short teeth. 



Time of flowering: July; seed ripe in August. 



Propagation: By seeds. 



Occurrence : In grain throughout Canada. 



Injury: A weed common to wheat fields and other cereal 

 crops. It is difficult to separate the seeds from wheat without 

 a heavy loss pf the grain. When ground with wheat, the seeds 

 give the flour a dark colour and a bad flavour. Bread made 

 from wheat infested with this and other cockle seeds is unwhole- 



