EUPHORBIACEAE (SPURGE FAMILY) 269 
bluntly ovoid, ash-colored seeds, about a twelfth of an inch long, 
smooth or faintly pitted. 
Means of control 
Small areas or scattering plants are most quickly and economi- 
cally ousted by grubbing up the rootstocks or by treating with a 
strong herbicide such as hot brine or caustic soda. Infestations 
too large to make such treatment practicable should be closely and 
repeatedly cut during the growing season, thus preventing any seed 
formation and starving the rootstocks, the process being kept up 
for at least two seasons. Or the land may be put under thorough 
cultivation, well fertilized, and then seeded to grass or clover. 
TOOTHED SPURGE 
Euphérbia dentdta, Michx. 
Native. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: July to September. 
Seed-time: August to November. 
Range: Pennsylvania to Wyoming, south- 
ward to Louisiana, Texas, and Mexico. 
Habitat: Rich, moist soil ; fields, meadows, 
waste places. 
A robust-looking, grossly feeding weed, 
transforming into its poisonous foliage 
much of the fertility needed by its whole- 
some neighbors. Stem eight to twenty 
inches high, somewhat woody at base, 
erect and branching. Leaves two to four 
inches long, the upper ones opposite but 
at base alternate, varying in shape from 
ovate to nearly linear, coarsely toothed, 
hairy, with prominent veins on the under 
side, and with hairy petioles. Involucres 
in clusters at the ends of stem and branches 
on very short peduncles; they are bell- 
shaped, with five oblong, sharply toothed 5, 19g — Toothed sae 
lobes, bearing usually one or sometimes (Euphorbia dentata). X t. 
