368 SOLAN 'ACE AE (NIGHTSHADE FAMILY) 



blue, five-lobed, nearly an inch broad ; the five stamens with 

 equal tapering anthers, similar to the preceding species ; calyx- 

 lobes narrow lance-shaped, acute, hairy. Fruit a globular, yellow 

 berry, about a half -inch in diameter. (Fig. 256.) 



Means of control the same as for the preceding species. 



BUFFALO BUR 



Solanum rostratum, Dunal. 



Other English names : Beaked Nightshade, Sand Bur, Colorado Bur, 

 Texas Thistle, Mexican Thistle. 



Native. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom: May to September. 



Seed-time: July to November. 



Range : South Dakota to Tennessee, Mississippi, Texas, and Mexico. 

 Locally in the Eastern States. 



Habitat: Plains and prairies, foothills; meadows, pastures, culti- 

 vated ground, waste places. 



This is one of the weeds frequently transported in baled hay, 

 and its appearance in eastern localities has usually been first in 

 vacant lots near city livery stables and 

 on near-by farms where such stable 

 refuse has been purchased for manur- 

 ing the land. Also the burs are dis- 

 tributed in the wool of sheep, as they 

 formerly were in the matted coats of 

 the buffalo herds, the plants being 

 always abundant about the "buffalo 

 wallows." (Fig. 257.) 



Stem one to two feet high, much 

 branched, covered with yellowish, star- 

 shaped hairs, and densely set with 

 slender, awl-like, yellow spines. Leaves 

 long oval in outline but once or twice 

 pinnatifid, the segments often not op- 

 posite and very irregular in size, but 

 the terminal one being usually largest, 

 FIG. 257. -Buffalo Bur (Sola- covered wit ^ rayed hairs, the midribs 

 num rostratum) . x i. and the petioles prickly. Flowers in 



