BORAGINACEAE (BORAGE FAMILY) 339 



long, narrow oblong to lance-shaped, obtuse, slightly wavy-edged, 

 bristly-hairy, sessile or the lower ones narrowing to short, margined 

 petioles. Flowers in terminal, leafy-bracted, curving racemes, 

 numerous, crowded, the corolla-tubes curved, less than a quarter- 

 inch long, with five spreading lobes, pale blue; the five included 

 stamens inserted on the tube, the throat closed with bristly scales ; 

 calyx-lobes, acute, nearly as long as the corolla-tube. The four 

 tiny nutlets rough-wrinkled, erect, with concave base. (Fig. 235.) 



Means of control 



Prompt cutting at the beginning of bloom, preventing all seed 

 production. 



WHEAT-THIEF 



Lithospermum arvense, L. 



Other English names: Stoneseed, Field Gromwell, Corn Gromwell, 



Redroot, Pigeonweed, Bastard Alkanet. 

 Introduced. Annual or biennial. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom: Early May to August. 

 Seed time : July to September. 

 Range: Quebec to Ontario and Michigan, southward to Georgia 



and Kansas. 

 Habitat: Grain and clover fields, meadows, waste places. 



An early immigrant from Europe, probably coming with the first 

 seed-wheat. Once in the soil it was safe to stay, for the hard 

 seeds retain their vitality for many years. Root red, thickish, 

 rather deep, fringed with spreading, fibrous rootlets. Stem six to 

 eighteen inches high, slender, branching, finely hairy. Alternate 

 leaves a half-inch to two inches long, linear to lance-shaped, light 

 green, entire, sessile or the lowest with short petioles, hairy on 

 both sides. Flowers sessile or very nearly so in the upper axils ; 

 corolla cream-white, funnel-form, five-lobed, about a quarter-inch 

 long, scarcely exceeding the hairy calyx, and having five stamens 

 included in its tube. The spikes at first appear crowded but be- 

 come distant with the succession of bloom, which is so long that 

 ripe nutlets are dropping from the base while buds are yet develop- 

 ing at the top ; the earlier fruits fall before the accompanying crop 

 is ready for harvest. Nutlets about a tenth of an inch long, dull 



