SCROPHULARIACEAE (FIG WORT FAMILY} 



Stem erect, smooth except for a few glandu- 

 lar hairs, three inches to a foot high, usually 

 branched but may be simple. Lower leaves 

 opposite, rather thick, long ovate or oblong, 

 obtuse, sharply toothed, with short petioles; 

 upper ones alternate, sessile, entire, narrowly 

 oblong to linear, less than a half-inch in 

 length. Flowers like the two preceding species 

 in structure, solitary and nearly sessile in the 

 axils, very pale blue or white, not more than 

 a tenth of an inch broad, followed by a 

 rounded and notched capsule larger than the 

 flower and stuffed with many very fine yellow 

 seeds, which are ripening and dropping into 

 the soil all summer. (Fig. 269.) 



Means of control 



In cultivated ground tillage should be con- 

 tinued later than is usual, for, if not, late- 



FIG. 269. Purs- grown plants will mature enough seed to keep 



lane Speedwell (Ve- the ground foul. Grasslands badly infested 

 rmica peregri.ia). ^^ be put un(]er culdvation for Qne Qr 



two seasons before reseeding. Cattle eat 

 the plant readily, but it is a poor substitute for good grass or 

 clover. 



CORN SPEEDWELL 



Verdnica arvensis, L. 



Introduced. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom: Late March to September. 



Seed-time: May to November. 



Range: Nova Scotia to Ontario and Minnesota, southward to 



Florida, Texas, and Kansas. 

 Habitat: Cultivated ground, waste places. 



This plant frequently begins to flower when less than three 

 inches high, at which time the stem is erect and simple ; later it 

 branches diffusely from the axils, becoming a rather spreading 

 plant, six to eight inches tall. Lower leaves opposite, petioled, 



