ROADSIDES AND NEGLECTED CORNERS 65 



No. 8. The Russian Thistle. 



This is one of the most injurious of the weeds that have 

 been introduced into the United States. In the following 

 description I quote from Mr. E. S. Goff in Wisconsin 

 Bulletin, No. 39 : " The Russian Thistle is an annual, 

 coining each year from the seed. It grows from a single, 

 small, light-colored root less than half an inch in diameter 

 and six to twelve inches long to a height of from six inches 

 to three feet, branching profusely, and when not crowded, 

 forms a dense, bush-like plant from two to six feet in diam- 

 eter and one-half or two-thirds as high. When young, it 

 is a very innocent-looking plant, tender and juicy through- 

 out, with small, narrow, downy, green leaves. When the dry 

 weather comes in August, this innocent disguise disappears, 

 the tender downy leaves wither and fall, and the plant 

 increases rapidly in size, sending out hard, stiff branches. 

 Instead of leaves, these branches bear at intervals of half 

 an inch or less three sharp spines, which harden but do not 

 grow dull as the plant increases in age and ugliness. The 

 spines are one-fourth to one-half inch long. At the base of 

 each cluster of spines is a papery flower about one-eighth of 

 an inch in diameter. If this be taken out and carefully 

 pulled to pieces, a small, pulpy, green body coiled up, and 

 appearing like a minute green snailshell, will be found. 

 This is the seed. As it ripens, it becomes hard and of a 

 rather dull gray color. At the earliest frost the plants 

 change in color from dark green to crimson, or almost 

 magenta, especially on the more exposed parts. When the 

 ground becomes frozen and the November winds blow across 

 the prairie, the small root is broken or loosened and pulled 

 out. The dense, yet light, growth and the circular or hemi- 

 spherical form fit it most perfectly to be carried by the 

 wind. It goes rolling across the country at racing speed, 

 scattering seed at every bound, and stopping only when the 



