52 



THE IXTUANA WEED BOOK. 



Syntiierisma s vnguinalis L. 



Fig. 



17. a and b, spikelets; c, flowering 

 glume. (After Scribner.) 



Crab-grass. Finger-grass. (A. I. 1.) 



Suberect or spreading, often rooting 

 at the lower joints, 1-3 feet long ; leaves 

 smooth or sparingly hairy, 2-6 inches 

 long. Spikes 3-10 in number, linear, 

 often purplish, 2-6 inches long, in 

 whorls and spreading like fingers from 

 the top of the culm ; spikelets in pairs, 

 J inch long, one sessile or nearly so, sec- 

 ond scale half as long; flowering stem 

 flat and winged. Seeds straw-color, 1/10 

 inch long (Fig. 17.) 



Abundant in gardens, lawns and 

 cultivated grounds. June-Oct. Af- 

 ter midsummer in wet seasons one 

 of the worst of lawn weeds often 

 crowding out the blue-grass. When 

 cut or pulled and thrown aside its 

 stems quickly take root from the 

 joints and are soon as luxuriant as 

 before. Dry sandy fields in which 

 melons and other early crops are 

 cultivated are often over-run in late 



autumn with this foreign grass. 

 The small crab-grass {8. linearis 

 Krock.), differing in having the 

 spikelets shorter, 1/12 inch long, the 

 second scale about as long, the leaves 

 and stems shorter, is also quite com- 

 mon in similar places. Remedies: 

 for lawns, pulling and burning; 

 clean grass seed ; for gardens and 

 fields, late hoeing and thorough cul- 

 tivation ; burning over in autumn. 



3. Pan him cbtjs-galli L. Barnyard 

 Grass. Gockspur Grass. (A. 1. 3.) 

 Stems erect, stout, often branching 

 at base, 1-4 feet high ; leaves 6 inches 

 to 2 feet long, rough-margined. Spikes 

 or branches of tbe flowering panicle 5 

 to 15 in number, erect or reflexed; spike- 

 lets in 2-4 rows, green or purple, 

 crowded on one side of the flowering 

 stem; glumes of the neutral flowers 



Fig. 18. 



a and b, spikelets; c and d, flowering 

 glumes. ( After Scribner.) 



