190 CSUCIFERAE (MUSTARD FAMILY) 



young plants resemble cabbage. In the second season the 

 fruiting stalk appears, one to four feet tall, slender but 

 stiff and erect, becoming hard as wire when mature; stem 

 leaves oblong, rather thick, also smooth and 

 glaucous, shaped like a rabbit's ears and clasping 

 the stem by two rounded auricles at the base. 

 These succulent leaves, particularly on young 

 autumn plants, are crisp and tender and make 

 good salad and greens ; they absorb most of the 

 food and moisture of the soil, and the accom- 

 panying crop does not usually amount to much 

 where the weed is very plentiful. Flowers cream- 

 white and only about a quarter-inch broad. But 

 the pods that follow on the elongating stalk are 

 about four inches long when mature, slim, smooth, 

 and square, each one containing about fifty brown 

 seeds, rounded oblong in shape, very mucilaginous 

 when wet, which causes them to stick to the feet 

 of animals, to a boot-sole, or to a wagon wheel, 

 and helps in their distribution. (Fig. 133.) 



Means of control 



Sow clean seed. If the infestation is new, hoe or 

 spud out every autumn plant and hand-pull every 

 flowering stalk in its first bloom ; and if pods have 

 formed, burn them, lest they ripen on the stalks. 

 The smooth, waxy surface of the plant sheds 

 all liquids like a duck's back and sprays cannot 

 Harems ear M ~&- ^ arm ^- Drag out spring seedlings with a weed- 

 tard (Conringia m g harrow and disk off the autumn plants. In 

 orientalis). x i every case prevent seeding if possible. 



GARLIC MUSTARD 



Alliaria officinalis, Andrz. 



Other English names: Hedge Garlic, Jaek-by-the-hedge, Sauce- 

 alone. 

 Introduced. Biennial. Propagates by seeds. 



