102 FARM WEEDS OF CANADA 



THE CAPER FAMILY {Capparidaceae). 



Closely allied to the Mustard is the Caper family, which 

 has some important characteristics in common with it, such 

 as cross-shaped flowers, seeds in pods, but these without partitions, 

 and often acrid or pungent juice. The chief differences between 

 the two families are that in the Mustard family four of the six 

 stamens are long and two short, while in the Caper family all 

 six are equal, and the pods of the former are two-celled and usually 

 divided by a thin partition across the middle. 



Spider-flower or Stinking Clover (Cleome serrulata Pursh.) 

 is a native annual, tall, smooth, hairless, with erect stem, 

 branched above and alternate leaves composed of 3 leaflets, 

 spreading from the apex of the footstalk, like the fingers of a 

 hand. Flowers pink or white, showy. The pods are long and 

 narrow, striped, and many seeded. 



The seed (Plate 74, fig. 44) is round-wedge-shaped or elong- 

 ated-kidney-shaped, with a deep curved groove running up each 

 face 2/3 of the way to the top from just above the sharp-pointed 

 base. When ripe it is dark brown, roughened with pale, scurfy 

 protuberances; the dry unripe seed is yellowish. Sometimes 

 found in cereal grain. 



A persistent weed that occasionally gives trouble in cereal 

 crops in the Prairie Provinces. In crops sown on stubble, it fre- 

 quently forms dense masses that crowd out the grain. Prevent 

 the plant from producing seed on fire-guards and around the 

 edges of fields by mowing in July and August. Areas badly 

 infested should be summer-fallowed. Stubble lands should 

 be shallow-plowed or thoroughly disced in fall or spring. 



Clammy-weed (Polanisia graveolens Raf.) is a low-growing 

 wayside weed with an unpleasant smell and sticky, hairy 

 leaves, having 3 oblong leaflets. Common along railways and 

 in waste places in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Ontario and 

 western Canada; occasionally giving trouble in cultivated crops. 



