68 FARM WEEDS OF CANADA 



NIGHT-FLOWERING CATCHFLY {Silene noctiflora L.) 



Other English name: Sticky Cockle. 



Other Latin name: Melandrium noctiflorum Fries, 



Introduced from Europe. Annual and winter annual. Erect, 

 1 to 3 feet high, somewhat branching; whole plant covered with 

 soft, spreading, glandular hairs. Lower leaves ovate, narrowed 

 at the base; stem-leaves lance-shaped. Flowers few, erect, in a 

 branching cyme, nearly an inch across, pinkish inside, yellowish 

 white outside, opening at night, corolla divisions deeply divided; 

 fruit capsule elongate ovoid, with 6 teeth at the top; calyx at first 

 cylindrical, afterwards broadly ovoid, with 5 long teeth at the 

 apex, and marked with 10 prominent green nerves. 



The seed (Plate 73, fig. 21) is about the same size as that of 

 Bladder Campion, grayish-brown, with a tiny black tip to each 

 tubercle. These tubercles are not in regular concentric rows, but 

 are evenly spread and cover the whole seed without regular 

 arrangement. 



Time of flowering: June to autumn; seed ripening in July 

 and till frost. 



Propagation: By seeds only. 



Occurrence: Throughout the Dominion. Abundant in the 

 East, particularly in thin clover fields; rather rare in the West, 

 where it is of comparatively recent introduction. 



Injury: A rank grower and heavy seeder; particularly trouble- 

 some in clover fields. On account of its pungent flavour and 

 woody texture, it is objectionable to live stock, whether in pas- 

 tures or cured fodder, and when at all prevalent in hay a con- 

 siderable waste results. The seed is a common impurity in 

 clover and grass seeds; alsike seed frequently contains large quan- 

 tities of it. 



Remedy: Farmers who sow clover and grass seed free from 

 the seeds of Catchfly will not long have trouble with it on lands 

 worked under a short rotation of crops. The appearance of this 

 cockle in alsike fields is largely due to its being sown with the 

 clover seeds. For alsike seed crop, only clean land and the 

 purest obtainable seed should be used. Hand-j)ull before cut- 



