POLEMONIACEAE (POLEMONIUM FAMILY) 



329 



' ' Like a living skein enlacing, 

 Coiling, climbing, turning, chasing," 



will embrace anything from a tall New Eng- 

 land aster to an onion, or even some shrubby 

 plants, such as the willows, and it is a high 

 climber. 



Stems deep yellow to orange, rather coarse. 

 Flowers very numerous, in dense clusters ; 

 corolla bell-shaped, waxen white, and its five 

 lobes, as well as those of the calyx, rounded 

 instead of pointed, the scales within the 

 tubes thickly fringed at summit, more spar- 

 ingly at the sides ; stamens exserted. Cap- 

 sules globose or short-pointed ovoid. Seeds 

 comparatively rather large. (Fig. 227.) 



Wherever the Common Dodder attacks 

 cultivated plants, both it and they should 

 be treated with scythe and fire before any 

 seed ripens. 



SKUNKWEED 



Navarretia squarrdsa, H. and A. 

 (Gtlia squarrdsa, H. and A.) 



FIG. 227. Common 

 Dodder (Ciiscuta Gro- 

 novii). xi- 



Other English names: Stinkweed, Pepperweed, Sticky Gilia. 



Native. Annual or biennial. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom: May to July. 



Seed-time: June to September. 



Range: Washington, California, and Nevada. 



Habitat: Grain fields, meadows, and vineyards. 



A troublesome and most disagreeable weed, viscidly glandular 

 and unpleasant to touch, very bitter to the taste, and emitting a 

 strong, fetid odor. Hay and grain among which it grows are 

 damaged by contact with it, for the offensive smell of its sticky 

 secretions is persistent and cattle reject not only the weed but 

 also the hay that has been cured in touch with it. 



Stem eight to fourteen inches tall, erect, rigid, branching from 

 the base, often of a ruddy or a brownish hue, and covered with 

 glandular hairs. Leaves alternate, once or twice pinnatifid, the 



