88 FARM WEEDS OF CANADA 



BALL MUSTARD {Neslia paniculata (L.) Desv). 



Other English names: Yellow- weed, Neslia. 

 Other Latin name : Myagrum paniculatum L. 



Introduced from Europe into the West about the same time 

 as Tumbling Mustard, Hare's-ear Mustard and Cow Cockle. 

 A tall annual or winter annual. Stems erect, very slender; strong 

 plants throwing out a few long branches. Whole plant yellowish- 

 green and covered with small, appressed, star-shaped hairs. 

 Lower leaves lance-shaped, narrowed at the base; stem-leaves 

 arrow-shaped clasping the stem at the base, blunt-pointed. 

 Flowers small, 1/8 of an inch across, orange-yellow; racemes 

 very long. 



The seed (Plate 73, fig. 35) is enclosed in small, round, one 

 seeded, shot-like pods, commonly called "seed," which are 

 borne on slender footstalks, about 1/2 of an inch in length, stand- 

 ing out from the stem in all directions. These pods, when 

 mature and dry, are about 1/12 of an inch in diameter, roundish, 

 greenish-brown, roughly net-veined, somewhat like a small 

 piece of dry earth. The contained seed is yellow, with the mini- 

 ature root of the germ prominent. The whole pods are generally 

 found in grain, as they do not open to discharge the seeds. 



Time of flowering : June to August ; seeds ripe July to 

 September. 



Propagation : By seeds. 



Occurrence: Very prevalent in northern Alberta; rapidly 

 becoming more abundant in the other Prairie Provinces. Com- 

 mon in eastern Canada along railway lines, waste places and 

 wherever western grain is carried. 



Injury : A noxious weed in the grain crops of Manitoba, Sas- 

 katchewan and Alberta. The wrinkled pods or balls containing 



