142 CARYOPHYLLACEAE (PINK FAMILY) 



at its summit. Seeds very numerous, brown and rough. 

 (Fig. 93.) 



Means of control 



In cultivated ground this weed is not very troublesome, as its 

 spreading, rather shallow-growing roots are readily destroyed by 

 the required tillage. In grain fields its spreading habit makes it 

 obnoxious, as it appropriates more food and moisture than the crop 

 can afford. Here it can be killed when young, or so checked in 

 growth as to prevent seed development, by a spray of Iron sulfate, 

 though it is not so sensitive to that treatment as is the garden 

 Chickweed. 



PURPLE COCKLE 



Agrostemma Githago, L. 

 (Lychnis Githago, Scop.) 



Other English names: Corn Cockle, Corn Rose, Corn Campion, 



Crown of the Field, Mullein Pink. 



Introduced. Annual and winter annual. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom : Late May to July. 

 Seed-time : July to August. 



Range : Throughout the world, wherever grain is grown. 

 Habitat: Grain fields, roadsides, and waste places. 



"A very little Cockle is sufficient to cut the grade," says a market 

 report from one of the wheat-growing states. The plant is particu- 

 larly a weed of grain fields, and it is there because it is sown there. 

 The seed is poisonous, and when ground with wheat the flour is 

 rendered unwholesome and even dangerous as food. Poultry and 

 other animals have been killed when fed with screenings composed 

 largely of seeds of Cockle. (Fig. 94.) 



Stem erect, slender, one to three feet tall, simple or with a few 

 branches near the top, clothed with whitish, appressed hairs. 

 Leaves opposite, a character common to the Pink Family ; two to 

 four inches long, lance-shaped to linear, the lowest slightly narrowed 

 at the base, all softly hairy. Flowers terminal on long, hairy 

 peduncles, often an inch and a half broad, with five spreading, 

 reddish purple petals, which are slightly notched at the outer edge 

 and dark-spotted near the claw ; calyx ovoid, hairy, and strongly 



