WEEDS OP tHE SEDGE FAMILY. 



01 



deeply after the grass has been cut for hay. (d) In lawns, hoe- 

 cutting and salting, burning or removing every joint. 



In Europe these underground stems are gathered and sold, be- 

 ing used in medicine for kidney and bladder troubles. They ate 

 pale yellow, smooth, about £ inch in diameter, with joints at in- 

 tervals of an inch from which slender rootlets are produced. When 

 washed, cut into short pieces, about 2/5 inch in length, on a hay 

 or feed cutter and dried, these rootstocks (not the rootlets) are 

 sold to the drug trade as dog-grass or tritielim, the price ranging 

 from 3 to 7 cents per pound. 



30. HobdetjM jubattjm I,. Wild Barley. Squirrel-tail Grass. Skunk 

 Grass. (P. N. 2.) 



Erect, simple, smooth, 10-30 inches 

 high; sheaths shorter than the joints; 

 leaves flat, 1-5 inches long, erect, rough. 

 Spikes terminal, cylindrical, 2-4 inches 

 long; spikelets in two opposite rows, 

 usually in 3's at each joint of the flower- 

 stem, the central one containing a per- 

 fect flower, the two side ones imperfect; 

 the empty scales forming rough awns, 

 barbed upwards, 1-3 inches long ; awn of 

 flowering scale 1-2 inches long. Seed 

 slender, i inch long, sharp-pointed, re- 

 sembling that of rye. (Fig. 25.) 



Frequent in old fields and along 

 fence-rows and railways in dry and 

 rather poor clayey or gravelly soil. 

 July-Sept. It grows usually in large 

 tufts from fibrous roots and is easily 

 known by the grayish-green leaves 

 and long, bearded nodding spikes. 

 The barbed seeds and awns often 

 penetrate the flesh surrounding the mouths of animals which at- 

 tempt to eat it, causing ulcers, swellings, and, in some instances, to- 

 tal blindness. Hay containing the grass is therefore almost value- 

 less. It spreads only by seeds, which are widely scattered by wind 

 and water, and can be controlled by cutting or pulling before the 

 seeds ripen, or by cultivation. Isolated clumps should be destroyed 

 wherever seen. 



Fig. 25. a, spikelet. (After Scribner.) 



The Sedge Family.— CYPERACE^E. 



A large family of grass-like or rush-like herbs, but having the 

 stems slender, generally solid instead of hollow and often either 

 .triangular or 4-sided; leaves grass-like, with the sheaths closed; 



