THE KING-DEVIL WEED. 189 



The plants make patches and the root leaves mat the ground 

 so thoroughly that nothing else will grow. The seeds (achenes) 

 are provided with numerous bristles (pappus), making them 

 light, and slight winds scatter them far and wide. 



This pest seems to flourish in Maine soil and is rapidly 

 spreading. We saw many plants that were considerably over 

 two feet high and some of them put up several stems from the 

 same root. Since 1893 it has spread more than the Orange 

 Hawkweed has in the same region for twenty years. It will 

 take root in mowing fields that have not been plowed for ten 

 years. It blooms about the same time as the Tall Buttercup 

 (R. acris) and the flowers being of nearly the same shade of 

 yellow it is difficult to detect it when they are growing in grass 

 lands together. 



It can be distinguished from the Orange Hawkweed by hav- 

 ing yellow instead of reddish-orange blossoms, and by the 

 smaller and usually more numerous heads. From our native 

 hawkweeds by the flowers being closely clustered at the top of 

 the few leaved stem. From another introduced hawkweed 

 that is found about Sangerville, Maine, and sparingly at 

 Orono, by its larger size and the fact that this species 

 has only one or two larger heads at the top of the stem. From 

 the Fall Dandelion by the form of the leaves and earlier flower- 

 ing. 



REMEDIES. 



We have had no experience with this weed. Its nature and 

 habits are similar to those of the Orange Hawkweed and it 

 would no doubt yield to the same treatment. 



Five methods of treating Orange Hawkweed have been sug- 

 gested: 



I. Watch the fields carefully each season and pull or care- 

 fully dig the scattering plants that make their appearance, not 

 allowing them to seed or spread. 



II. Turn the infested field and cultivate carefully some hoed 

 crop until the weed is eradicated. 



III. Crop the turned field heavily with some strong growing 

 plant to choke out the weed. 



IV. Convert the infested field into a sheep pasture until the 

 weed is destroyed. 



