534 



COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 



GUM SUCCORY 



Chondrilla juncea, L. 



Other English names: Skeleton Weed, Naked Weed. 



Introduced. Biennial. Propagates by seed. 



Time of bloom : Blossoms most abundantly in July and August, but 



produces scattering flowers until late autumn. 

 Seed-time: August until frost-killed. 



Range: Middle Atlantic States and inland to West Virginia. 

 Habitat : Dry fields, roadsides, and waste places. 



First-year tufts of the large, pinnatifid 

 root-leaves of this weed resemble those 

 of the Dandelion very much and might 

 be mistaken for them; it has also a 

 similar long, fleshy taproot,. But the 

 fruiting stalks, which appear in the 

 second year, are one to three feet high, 

 very slender, round, rigid, bare except 

 for a few scattering stem-leaves so nar- 

 row and small as to seem mere awl-like 

 bracts, smooth except that below the 

 many branches the stem bristles with 

 small, fine prickles. Heads yellow, less 

 than a half-inch broad, on short pedun- 

 cles; they terminate the branches in 

 groups of two or three, and also grow 

 singly and sessile on the sides of the 

 nearly naked branches. Achene nearly 

 black, usually five-ribbed, prickly at the 

 top, with a slender beak about as long as 

 the seed; the pappus attached to it is 

 copious, fine, and shining white. (Fig. 

 369.) 



FIG. 369. Gum Succory 

 (Chondrilla juncea) . X J. 



Means of control 



Hoe-cutting or spudding off the crowns 



of first-year plants ; deep cutting of fruiting stems before any 

 seed matures. In cultivated ground the weeds are destroyed by 

 the necessary tillage. 



