534 COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 
GUM SUCCORY 
Chondrilla juncea, L. 
Other English names: Skeleton Weed, Naked Weed. 
Introduced. Biennial. 
Propagates by seed. 
Time of bloom: Blossoms most abundantly in July and August, but 
produces scattering flowers until late autumn. 
Seed-time: August until frost-killed. | es 
Range: Middle Atlantic States and inland to West Virginia. 
Habitat: Dry fields, roadsides, and waste places. 
Fie. 369.— Gum Succory 
(Chondrilla juncea). X }. 
First-year tufts of the large, pinnatifid 
root-leaves of this weed resemble those 
of the Dandelion very much and might 
be mistaken for them; it has also a 
similar long, fleshy taproot, But the 
fruiting stalks, which appear in the 
second year, are one to three feet high, 
very slender, round, rigid, bare except 
for a few scattering stem-leaves so nar- 
row and small as to seem mere aw]-like 
bracts, smooth except that below the 
many branches the stem bristles with 
small, fine prickles. Heads yellow, less 
than a half-inch broad, on short pedun- 
cles; they terminate the branches in 
groups of two or three, and also grow 
singly and sessile on the sides of the 
nearly naked branches. Achene nearly 
black, usually five-ribbed, prickly at the 
top, with a slender beak about as long as 
the seed; the pappus attached to it is 
copious, fine, and shining white. (Fig. 
369.) 
Means of control 
Hoe-cutting or spudding off the crowns 
of first-year plants; deep cutting of fruiting stems before any 
seed matures. In cultivated ground the weeds are destroyed by 
the necessary tillage. 
