CARYOPHYLLACEAE (PINK FAMILY) 143 
ten-ribbed, with five long, pointed lobes extending beyond the 
petals; styles five, opposite the petals; stamens ten. Capsule 
ovoid, one-celled, sometimes exceeding a half-inch in length, and 
containing twenty-five to forty black or very dark brown seeds, 
rounded triangular in shape and roughened 
with rows of short teeth; the size and 
weight of the seeds make them very diffi- 
cult to remove from grain among which 
they are mixed. When in the soil they 
retain their vitality for several years. 
Means of control 
Sow ¢lean seed. When Cockle is first 
discovered among the grain, hand-pull and 
destroy the plants before any seed matures. 
If a field is too rankly infested for hand- 
pulling, an application of Copper sulfate 
or Iron sulfate spray will so injure the 
tissues of leaf and flower as to prevent the 
development of seed. Ground where 
Cockle seed has ripened and been dis- 
tributed should not be used for grain 
again until after some cultivated crop 
has been given a place in the rotation. 
RAGGED ROBIN 
Lychnis Flos-ciculi, L. 
Fie. 94.— Corn Cockle 
(Agrostemma Githago). 
x} 
Other English names: Meadow Pink, Meadow Campion, Cuckoo 
Flower. 
v 
Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: June to August. 
Seed-time: July to September. 
Range: New Brunswick to New Jersey, and westward to Ohio. 
Habitat: Moist soil; meadows and waste places. 
An escape from flower gardens, and a pernicious weed wherever 
established because of its perennial roots. 
Its seeds are said to 
have some of the same poisonous properties as those of its relative 
the Corn Cockle, but not to so dangerous an extent. (Fig. 95.) 
