80 



THE INDIANA WEED BOOK. 



40. Alsine media L. Common Chiekweed. (A. I. 2.) 



Spreading or half erect, tufted, much branched, 4-12 inches long. 



smooth except a line of hairs along the stem; leaves oval, J to 2h inches 



long, the upper sessile. Flowers very 

 small, white, the petals 2-parted, shorter 

 than the calyx. Capsule egg-shapecl, 

 longer than the calyx ; seeds brown, 

 kidney-shaped, flattened, 1/24 inch 

 across, the sides coarsely tuberculate. 

 (Figs. 12, // and 4(3.) 



Frequent in rich moist soil in 

 gardens, lawns, meadows and pas- 

 tures. Jan.-Dec. A winter annual, 

 blooming at all seasons. In some 

 places used as a barometer as it ex- 

 pands its flowers fully when fine 

 weather is to follow but "if it 

 should shut up, then the traveler is 

 to put on his great coat." In Eu- 

 rope it is much used for feeding 

 cage-birds, which are very fond of both seed and leaves. Remedies : 

 early and thorough spring cultivation • reseeding lawns ; crowd- 

 ing out by some winter-growing crop, as rye or crimson clover. 



Showing flower, fruit and seed. 

 (After Britton and Brown.) 



The Crowfoot or Buttercup Family. — RANUNCTJLACE^E. 



Annual or perennial herbs with acrid sap ; leaves usually alter- 

 nate, often compound. Flowers with the parts all distinct and 

 unconnected ; petals 3-15, sometimes wanting, in which case the 

 calyx is colored like the corolla ; sepals the same number, often 

 falling when unfolding; stamens numerous; ovaries 1-many, 1- 

 celled, usually 1 -seeded. Fruit of our weeds an achene. (Fig. 

 14, /, fir.) 



About 50 species of the family occur in Indiana. Among them 

 are many of our common wild flowers of early spring and summer, 

 as the liverworts, marsh-marigolds, larkspurs, columbines, bane- 

 berries, anemones, clematis, buttercups and meadow-rues. Most of 

 these are harmless plants, covering the bare places of mother earth 

 with their green leaves and posies gay. With us only one may as 

 yet be listed as a weed, though others of its kind occasionally 

 spread in low, wet pastures. 



4^. Ranunculus abortivus L. Sinall-flowered Crowfoot. Kidney-leaved 



Crowfoot. (B. N. 3.) 

 Stem erect, branching, glabrous; root-leaves thick, kidney- or heart- 



