CARYOPHYLLACEAE (PINK FAMILY) 



137 



pedicels droop as soon as the seed begins to form. Pod or 

 capsule with five valves, which are opposite the sepals. Seeds 

 many, dull black, small, round, flat, sharply margined, rough- 

 ened with very minute pimples ; they are a frequent impurity 

 of grass and clover seed ; also they possess long vitality when 

 lying dormant in dry soil. (Fig. 88.) 



Means of control 



Prevent seed development. In some cases ground infested with 

 Spurry may profitably be grazed off by sheep while the plants are 

 young. Among crops in which hoe-cutting is impracticable, a five- 

 per-cent solution of Copper sulfate, applied when the plants are 

 about half-grown or even when they are in first bloom, will prevent 

 the formation of seed. Land fouled with seeds of Spurry should 

 be put to a well-tilled hoed crop before being seeded with grain or 

 clover. 



THYME-LEAVED SANDWORT 



Arenaria serpyllifolia, L. 



Introduced. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom : May to August. 

 Seed-time: June to September. 

 Range: Throughout North America except 



the far North. 

 Habitat : Dry soil ; waste places. 



A very slender, much-branched, and spread- 

 ing little plant. Not an aggressive weed 

 but merely doing its best to cover dry and 

 sterile soil, that is unsuited to plants of 

 more worth. Stems two to eight inches high, 

 light green, and rough-hairy. Leaves op- 

 posite, sessile, ovate, acute, hardly more than 

 a quarter-inch long. Flowers many, very 

 small, white, in leafy, cymose panicles ; 

 sepals five, lance-shaped, pointed, bristly on 

 the back, about as long as the petals, which 

 are also five, oblong or obovate. Stamens 



FIG. 89. Thyme- 

 leaved Sandwort 

 (Arenaria serpylli- 



ten, with lilac anthers. Styles three. The folia), x $. 



