. PINK FAMILY. 93 
The plant was introduced from Europe. It is most plen- 
tiful along the eastern and western coasts, but is found 
ats locally in the interior, growing in waste 
e Plant ‘ ‘ 
and. Reed places and among grain crops. It is an an- 
nual grass from two to four feet high, with 
a smooth, stout stem, and rather broad leaves, rough 
above. The spikelets, each containing four to eight seeds, 
are arranged alternately, pressing into slight curves in 
the rachis, or main stalk. The fruit, which alone pro- 
duces trouble, is not unlike a small grain of barley in 
appearance. The hulls enclose the kernel very tightly, 
the outer one being hard and flinty, and the inner 
minutely bristly along the edges. The size is about that 
of a small grain of wheat. 
PINK FAMILY—Caryophyllaceae. 
PURPLE COCKLE—Agrostemma Githago L. 
Other Common Names: Corn Cockle, Corn Rose, Corn 
Campion. 
The seeds of this common plant are responsible for a 
great deal of trouble. Their reputation is so bad that 
certain of the United States have laws pro- 
hibiting the sale of feeds in which they 
are present even in the smallest proportion. 
The plant grows commonly in wheat fields, and the seeds 
are of such a size that it is very difficult to separate them 
from the wheat. Before the days of modern machinery 
they often found their way into the flour with disastrous 
results. At present the chief trouble arises from the fact 
that when they have been cleaned from the wheat, they 
are mixed with bran and middlings or other feeds, some- 
times in sufficient proportions to cause many deaths 
Conditions of 
Poisoning 
