162 WEEDS OF THE FARM AND GARDEN 



high, leaves ovate, deeply serrate, downy underneath : 

 flower cluster large, otherwise like the preceding. In 

 waste places from New England to Missouri. 



Small Nettle (Urtica urcns, L.). An annual, but slight- 

 ly urticating, eight to twelve inches high ; leaves elliptical, 

 glabrous, shorter than the petiole ; pistillate and stamin- 

 ate flowers in the same cluster. In waste places near 

 dwellings from New England to Texas. 



Western Nettle (Urtica holosericea, Nutt.). A tall, 

 stout, more or less stinging perennial, finely and densely 

 tomentose ; leaves thick, oblong to obovate-lanceolate, on 

 a short petiole, tomentose, especially the lower surface of 

 the leaf; staminate flowers in loose panicles; pistillate 

 flowers in denser and shorter panicles. Common in Utah 

 and westward ; strongly urticating. 



Buckwheat Family (Polygonaceac). Herbs, shrubs, 

 or trees, with alternate or sometimes opposite, entire 

 leaves, stems with swollen joints ; stipules in the form 

 of sheaths; flowers small, regular, perfect, dioecious, 

 monoecious or polygamous ; petals none ; sepals often col- 

 ored, petal-like, two to six-cleft or two to six-parted ; 

 stamens two to nine ; ovary one-celled, bearing two to 

 three styles or stigmas; fruit usually an achene, com- 

 pound or three or four-angled or winged ; embryo curved 

 or straight. About 800 species of wide distribution. Con- 

 tains the buckwheat, rhubarb, docks, etc. 



Curled Dock (Rume.r crispus, L.). A smooth peren- 

 nial, growing from three to four feet tall, with a long 

 root ; leaves lanceolate, acute, margins wavy and curled ; 

 bases of lower leaves somewhat truncate or inclined to 

 be heart-shaped ; flowers collected in dense whorls, which 

 become extended or prolonged' into racemes entirely leaf- 

 less above or with few small leaves below; flower with 

 eight sepals, the three outer herbaceous and leaflike, the 

 three inner larger, somewhat curled and forming, after 

 flowering, the valves of the fruit ; fruit three-angled, each 



