XUPHORBIACEAE (SPURGE FAMILY) 269 



bluntly ovoid, ash-colored seeds, about a twelfth of an inch long, 

 smooth or faintly pitted. 



Means of control 



Small areas or scattering plants are most quickly and economi- 

 cally ousted, by grubbing up the rootstocks or by treating with a 

 strong herbicide such as hot brine or caustic soda. Infestations 

 too large to make such treatment practicable should be closely and 

 repeatedly cut during the growing season, thus preventing any seed 

 formation and starving the rootstocks, the process being kept up 

 for at least two seasons. Or the land may be put under thorough 

 cultivation, well fertilized, and then seeded to grass or clover. 



TOOTHED SPURGE 

 Euphdrbia dentdta, Michx. 



Native. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom: July to September. 



Seed-time: August to November. 



Range : Pennsylvania to Wyoming, south- 

 ward to Louisiana, Texas, and Mexico. 



Habitat : Rich, moist soil ; fields, meadows, 

 waste places. 



A robust-looking, grossly feeding weed, 

 transforming into its poisonous foliage 

 much of the fertility needed by its whole- 

 some neighbors. Stem eight to twenty 

 inches high, somewhat woody at base, 

 erect and branching. Leaves two to four 

 inches long, the upper ones opposite but 

 at base alternate, varying in shape from 

 ovate to nearly linear, coarsely toothed, 

 hairy, with prominent veins on the under 

 side, and with hairy petioles. Involucres 

 in clusters at the ends of stem and branches 

 on very short peduncles ; they are bell- 

 shaped, with five oblong, sharply toothed FlG . 18S . _ T o 0t hed Spurge 

 lobes, bearing usually one or sometimes (Euphorbia dentata). x J. 



