WEEDS OF MONTANA. 53 



some grain-fields in the Gallatin Valley and is bad in several parts 

 of the Flathead Valley, while it is common along the railroad from 

 Missoula westward, apparently coming in from the Pacific coast. 

 This should be included among the outlawed weeds of the state. 

 [Fig. 14.] 



106. RUMEX CRISPUS, L. Curly-leaved Dock; Burdock. 



A large perennial dock established in streets and waste places 

 about most of the larger towns of the .state but not as yet common 

 or very troublesome. The large thick roots must be removed by 

 digging. 



K>7. RUMEX SALICIFOLIUS, YYeinm. Willow-leaved Dock. 



A coarse weed like the last but with narrower leaves; frequent 

 along roadsides, in waste places and pastures. Apparently intro- 

 duced from the west; possibly indigenous. 



108. SALSOLA KALI TRAGUS, Moq. Russian Thistle. 



An introduced annual with little or no resemblance to a thistle. 

 It has awl-shaped leaves, a green stem, striped with red, and 

 prickly iruit-bracts, becoming hard and spiny in age; flowers and 

 fruit small and inconspicuous. It often forms a large globular 

 mass a yard or more in diameter, which finally becomes detached 

 and is rolled about by the wind like the tumble-weed. It favors 

 sandy or alkali soil for growth and frequents railway grades, 

 streets and waste places about towns and cities; seems to make 

 no headway against the native vegetation in the open fields and 

 plains. This is one of the three outlawed weeds of Montana and 

 doubtless well deserves to be included in the list, but, as far as my 

 observation goes, it has not yet become a pest here in cultivated 

 ground, although well scattered over the state, and hardly deserves 

 the bad reputation given it. In its younger growth it makes fair 

 forage and is occasionally cut for hay, so that it may yet prove a 

 valuable forage plant adapted to alkali situations, where little 

 else will grow. Well scattered in the Milk River and Yellowstone 



