COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 475 



Stem one to three feet high, stout, erect, smooth, pale green, with 

 short, stout branches. Leaves light green, lance-shaped, regularly 

 toothed, pointed at both ends, with winged petioles or the upper 

 ones sessile. Heads large, on short, stout peduncles, the outer 

 bracts of the involucre six to eight, lance-shaped, large, and leaf- 

 like, often toothed, erect, their height sometimes two to five times 

 exceeding the disk; rays wanting; disk-florets funnel-shaped, 

 four-lobed, pale yellow. Achenes brown or olive, nearly a half- 

 inch in length, flat, smooth or nearly so, three-awned, the outer ones 

 nearly three-fourths as long as the achene, the central one usually 

 shorter, and all barbed downward. 



Control of the weed depends on allowing none of the plants to 

 mature their fruits. 



SWAMP BEGGAR-TICKS 



Bldens connata, Muhl. 



Other English names: Purple-stemmed Stickseed, Harvest Lice. 



Native. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom: August to October. 



Seed-time: September to November. 



Range: New England to Minnesota, southward to the Carolinas 



and Missouri. 

 Habitat : Wet meadows and fields, banks of streams, and ditches. 



This native American has established itself in Europe, where it 

 is very cordially disliked. Stem one to six feet or more tall, erect, 

 smooth, purple, branching freely. Leaves deep green, usually 

 undivided or some of the lower ones three-cleft, narrowly lance- 

 shaped, coarsely toothed, with long, slender petioles. Heads 

 about a half-inch broad, numerous, on short, slender peduncles, 

 the outer bracts of the involucre few, obtuse, entire, extending not 

 far above the head ; rays usually wanting, but, when present, golden 

 yellow; disk florets orange-yellow, five-lobed. Achenes dark 

 brown, rather thick, wedge-shaped, tubercled, four-angled, four- 

 awned, or the outer row flattened on one side and three-awned, 

 the sides of achene and awns downwardly barbed. 



Means of control 



Drainage and cultivation of the ground ; prevention of seeding 

 by frequent, close cutting. 



