SOLAN ACEAE BUFFALO BUR 



723 



pinnatitid; lobes roundish or obtuse and repand, covered with soft pubescence, 

 hairs stellate; flowers yellow; corolla gamopetalous, 1 inch in diameter, nearly 

 regular, the sharp lobes of the corolla broadly ovate; stamens, 5, declined, 

 anthers tapering upward, linear lanceolate, dissimilar, the lowest much larger 

 and longer with incurved beak, hence the technical name ro stratum ; style 

 much declined: fruit a berry but enclosed by the close fitting and prickly calyx, 

 which has suggested the common name buffalo bur or sand bur ; pedicels in 

 fruit erect; seeds thick, irregular, round or somewhat longer than broad, 

 wrinkled showing numerous small pits ; seeds surrounded by a gelatinous sub- 

 stance. The related species S. citrulUfolium of the southwest is glandular 

 pubescent with slender yellow subulate prickles, lowest anther violet. 



Distribution. The buffalo bur was undoubtedly a native to the region of the 



Fig. 4_ 3 3. Horse nettle (Solatium carolinense). a, 

 plant with flowers and fruit; b, flower; c, seed enlarg- 

 ed. Considered poisonous by Bessey and others. (U. 

 S. Dept. Agr.). 



plains occurring in the bare places where grass is scant and in former times 

 was most abundant around the "buffalo wallows." Its range is from Xew Mex- 

 ico to Wyoming and across the plains. The general traffic from the west to the 

 east has caused the weed to be distributed in various eastern and middle states, 

 Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin. Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York, 

 Massachusetts and Tennessee. 



