132 



NYCTOGINACEAE (FOUR-O'CLOCK FAMILY) 



Seed-time : July to September. 



Range: Minnesota to Utah, southward to Mexico, Texas, and 



Missouri to the Carolinas. 

 Habitat : Prairies ; dry, sandy fields and meadows. 



Taller than either of the preceding species, the stem varying 

 in height from one to four or more feet, erect, slender, round or 

 only slightly angled near the base, smooth, glaucous, branching, 

 and somewhat swollen at the nodes. Leaves one to three inches 

 long, linear, thick, smooth, one-nerved, sessile or the lower ones 

 short-petioled with obtuse tips, the upper ones distant and acutely 

 pointed. Flower-stalks and involucres sparsely covered with 

 glandular hairs, the latter obtusely five-lobed and about three- 

 flowered; perianth also finely hairy, purple, 

 bell-shaped, with stamens and style exserted 

 beyond the five obtuse lobes. Seed very small, 

 hard and nut-like, oblong obovoid, with five 

 hairy ribs, the spaces between covered with 

 minute tubercles. 



Means of control the same as for the two pre- 

 ceding species. 



HOG WEED 



Boerhaavia erecta, L. 



Introduced. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom : June to November. 

 Seed-time: July to December. 

 Range: South Carolina to Florida, Texas, and 



Mexico. 

 Habitat: Cultivated crops, meadows, and waste 



places. 



A native of tropical America now very com- 

 mon in the rich bottom lands of the Southern 

 Seaboard and Gulf States. Stems one to three 

 feet tall, smooth, diffusely branched from the 

 base, spreading wider than its height. Leaves 

 one to three inches long, opposite, ovate or 

 weed (Boerhaavia sometimes heart-shaped, rather thick in texture, 

 erecta). x i. with slender petioles, scalloped or wavy edges, 



