COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 537 



RED-SEEDED DANDELION 



Taraxacum erythrospermum, Andrz. 



Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom : April to June. 



Seed-lime: May to July. 



Range: Maine to Virginia, westward to Michigan and Illinois. 



Habitat: Lawns, grasslands, waste places. 



Smaller than the preceding species, the leaves very slender, 

 deeply pinnatifid, the backward-turning lobes very narrow and 

 acute. Flower-heads about an inch broad, sulfur yellow, the 

 outer row of rays purple on the under side ; bracts of the involucre 

 glaucous, the outer ones lance-shaped, spreading or ascending, the 

 inner row linear and usually with a small horny appendage just 

 below the tips. Achenes bright brownish red, the upper part very 

 spinulose, the beak less than twice the length of the achene ; pap- 

 pus grayish white, very fine. 



Means of control the same as for the Common Dandelion. 



FIELD SOW THISTLE 

 Sdnchus arvensis, L. 



Other English names: Creeping Sow Thistle, Corn Sow Thistle, 



Milk Thistle, Swine Thistle, Gutweed. 



Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds and by rootstocks. 

 Time of bloom : June to August. 

 Seed-time: July to September. 

 Range: Newfoundland and Nova Scotia to Manitoba and the 



Dakotas, southward to New Jersey and Illinois. 

 Habitat: Grain fields, cultivated crops, roadsides, waste places. 



A most noxious weed because of the creeping, horizontal root- 

 stocks extending in all directions and putting forth new plants and 

 roots at the joints ; these rootstocks are rather thick, yellowish 

 white, and, like all the rest of the plant, filled with a milky and 

 bitter juice. Stems two to four feet tall, stout, smooth, finely 

 grooved, hollow between joints. Leaves pinnatifid, the terminal 

 lobe large, pointed, the lateral lobes turned backward and decreas- 

 ing in size toward the base ; the lower and basal leaves narrowing 

 to margined petioles, the upper ones sessile and clasping by a heart- 



