DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME COMMON WEEDS 14! 



especially in the flood plains of streams, and becoming 

 troublesome as a weed on lawns. 



Finger Grass or Crab Grass (Digitaria sanguinalis, (L.) 

 Scop.). A leafy, much-branched annual, one to three 

 feet high, spreading on the ground, with erect, smooth, 

 spreading stems, frequently rooting at the lower joints, 

 which are sometimes smooth, but, more often, bearded 

 with deflexed hairs ; sheaths loose, generally hairy, es- 

 pecially on the margins, with a membranaceous ligiile ; 

 leaves from two to four inches long, with rough margins 

 and occasionally hairy at the base ; flowers produced in 

 digitate spikes (hence the name ringer grass) ; spikelets 

 in pairs, less than one-eighth inch long, one being nearly 

 sessile, the other on a small stalk ; each flower consists of 

 two sterile glumes and the flower proper, which is made 

 up of two glumes ; the first glume is very small, the sec- 

 ond about one-half to two-thirds as long as the spikelet, 

 the third somewhat longer than the fourth, and the 

 fourth, five-nerved and usually silky haired along the 

 marginal nerves, smooth and acute ; fruit minute, pitted 

 and cross-striated, light straw colored, except where the 

 sterile glumes remain attached. These are gray and 

 minutely hairy. Blooming period from June to Septem- 

 ber. Common in the bottom lands along streams and 

 occasionally troublesome in corn fields, but more of a 

 pest on lawns. Since it roots at the joints, it is somewhat 

 difficult to remove. 



Old Witch Grass (Panicum capillare, L.). An annual, 

 usually displaying coarse, branching stems, one to three 

 feet high, with very hairy leaf sheath and wide-spreading 

 panicles, which are terminal on the stem and branches; 

 stem jointed, branching near the base and hairy below the 

 bearded nodes ; sheaths have spreading hairs and densely 

 ciliate short ligules ; leaf blade flat, lanceolate or linear and 

 sparingly hairy on both sides, with rough margins ; hairs 

 throughout spring from small papillae, those on the leaf 



