PRIMULACEAE (PRIMROSE FAMILY) 311 



five-lobed and the bell-like corolla has five recurved teeth ; stamens 

 ten, included ; style columnar and ovary five-celled. Capsule 

 pointed-ovoid, five-angled, and five-celled, filled with many club- 

 shaped seeds, none of which should be allowed to sow themselves 

 and bring on the deadly young shoots. 

 Measures for control the same as for Sheep Laurel. 



SCARLET PIMPERNEL 

 Anagdllis arvensis, L. 



Other English names: Red Chickweed, Poison Chickweed, Wink-a- 



peep, Shepherd's Clock, Poor Man's Weather Glass, Poisonweed 



(on the Pacific coast). 



Introduced. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom : May to September. 

 Seed-time: June to October. 

 Range: Newfoundland to Vancouver Island and southward to 



Florida and Texas. Most abundant on the Pacific Coast and 



also in the Atlantic States. 

 Habitat: Gardens, lawns, fields, meadows, pastures, waste places. 



Like the Chickweed, this plant has accompanied the European 

 emigrant to every part of the world, its seeds mingled with those 

 of better plants. Where abundant it is not only a troublesome 

 weed, but also dangerous, for it is poisonous, all parts of it having 

 "pronounced diuretic and narcotic properties," and it is said to 

 be especially injurious to horses, sometimes fatally so. When 

 growing in pastures cattle usually reject it and it is left to reproduce 

 itself. 



Stems six to eighteen inches long, smooth, four-angled, weak, 

 and slender, some prostrate and some ascending, branched and 

 spreading. Leaves opposite or sometimes in whorls of three, or 

 those near the top sometimes alternate, a quarter inch to a half- 

 inch long, ovate, entire, sessile or slightly clasping, black-dotted 

 on the under side. Flowers lifted on very slender, almost hair- 

 like, axillary peduncles ; the calyx has five narrow, keeled, and 

 pointed lobes, united at base and persistent; corolla usually 

 bright scarlet but sometimes salmon-color, occasionally white, 

 about a third of an inch broad, wheel-shaped, five-lobed, with 

 each lobe minutely fringed at the tip with fine, glandular hairs; 



