146 CARYOPHYLLACEAE (PINK FAMILY) 



celled large, ovoid, with ten inbent valves at the apex which curve 

 outward when ripe and from which the seeds are shaken out as the 

 winds sway the stems ; seeds very abundant, small, grayish brown, 

 beaded with fine tubercles ; too frequent an impurity among those 

 of grain, grass, and clover. (Fig. 97.) 



Means of control 



Prevent seed production by close cutting or hand-pulling at the 

 time of first bloom. Meadows and grain fields where the plants 

 have been permitted to distribute seed should be broken up and 

 given a short rotation of cultivated crops before reseeding. 



SLEEPY CATCHFLY 

 Silene antirrhlna, L. 



Native. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom: June to September. 

 Seed-time: Late July to October. 

 Range: Ontario and New England to British 



Columbia, southward to Florida and Mexico. 

 Habitat: Dry meadows, waste places, open 



woods. 



An inconspicuous plant because of its habit of 

 keeping its flowers closed except for a very short 

 time each day while the sun shines brightest. 

 Its seeds, however, are often found among 

 those of grass and clover. 



Stem eight inches to two feet high, slender 

 and glutinous below the swollen joints. Leaves 

 small, the lower ones about two inches long, 

 spatulate, narrowing to a margined petiole; 

 stem-leaves narrow and sessile, reduced near 

 the top to awl-like bracts. Flowers in a cymose 

 panicle on very slender pedicels, each less than 

 a quarter-inch broad, the five pink petals 

 notched; styles three, rarely four; stamens 



JciG. Uo. feleepy .~ , . , i i 



Catchfly (Silene ten - Capsule ovoid, opening by three or six 

 antirrhina). x J. teeth at the apex, one-celled or imperfectly 



