120 CHENOPODIACEAE (GOOSEFOOT FAMILY) 
clustered in the axils; these each produce a single ovoid, flattened 
seed, about a tenth of an inch long, minutely ridged lengthwise, 
gray and shining; many seeds have the utricle or papery covering 
persistently enfolding them and projecting 
from the top as a two-lobed wing. When 
mature, the stems, bracts, and calyx lobes 
turn white, and the plants are then very con- 
spicuous. They frequently become tumble- 
weeds, the woody, brittle stems breaking at 
the base and the whole weed rolling away 
before the wind, sowing seed as it goes; by 
this means its range is being very rapidly 
extended. 
Means of control 
In grain fields, large numbers of the young 
seedlings may be dragged out with a weeding 
harrow, in the spring, when the crop is but 
a few inches high; plants that survive this 
treatment should be hand-pulled later, but 
before their rank growth injures the crop by 
absorbing its food and moisture. Meadows 
infested by the weed should be early cut in 
order to prevent fouling the soil with the 
Fic. 73.— Russian : a 
Pigweed (Azyrisama- seed. Plants along roadsides and railways 
rantovdes). X 4. and in waste places should be cut while in 
early flower, and burned so as to make certain that no seed 
shall mature. 
ROUGH PIGWEED 
Amarénthus retroflérus, L. 
Other English names: Redroot Pigweed, Chinaman’s Greens. 
Introduced. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: July to September. 
Seed-time: August to November. 
Range: Throughout North America except the far North. Native 
of tropical America and indigenous in the Southwest. 
Habitat: Cultivated ground; waste places. 
