WEEDS OP THE SPURGE FAMILY 



9.* 



dents, etc. June-Get. The plant often forms a handsome circular 

 mat covering some naked place on the bosom of earth. Remedies: 

 hoe-cutting or pulling when the first blossoms appear; thorough 

 cultivation ; burning mature plants. 



A closely allied but less common species is the hairy, spreading 

 spurge (E. humistrata Eng.), which has the involucre split on •in- 

 side, stem more hairy, leaves larger, more ovate and more numerous. 



55. Euphorbia nutans Lag. Large or Upright Spatted Spurge. Stubble 

 Spurge. (A. N. 2.) 

 Stem ascending or erect with many side branches, reddish-green, c>-24 

 inches high; leaves opposite, ovate-oblong, often curved, unequally cut- 

 tcothed, often with reddish margins and a red blotch at center. Seeds 

 blackish, oblong-oval, 1/16 inch long with blunt angles and cross ridges. 



Common in dry pastures, along banks, roadsides and waste 

 places, and especially in sandy stubble-fields. May-Oct. It is sup- 

 posed to be one of the causes of the salivation or slobbering of 

 horses, so often noted in late summer. The pods of it and allied 

 species, when dry, burst with a snapping noise and project the 

 seeds to a distance of several feet. Remedies the same as for tiie 

 spotted spurge; also mowing or burning over stubble fields. 



56 



Flowering Spurge. White-topped Spurge 



Euphorbia cokollata L 



(P. X. 2.) 

 Erect. 1-3 feet high, branched above, bright green; leaves linear or 

 oblong, the upper ones whorled. the others alternate. Flower stalks 



forked and arranged in an umbel at top 

 of stem: involucres terminal, bearing 

 4 or 5 yellowish-green oblong glands and 

 white petal-like bracts. Seeds gray, 

 3/10 inch long, slightly pitted. (Fig. 60.) 



Frequent in poor, dry soils, espe- 

 cially along sandy banks and road 

 sides. May-Oct. When bruised it 

 exudes a milky, poisonous jui<-<'. 

 Spreads by long stout rootstocks as 

 well as by seeds. Remedies: re- 

 peated mowings before the seeds 

 ripen: increased fertilization: thor- 

 lu^.oo. (After \ asey.) ougli cultivation until mid-summer. 



The cypress or graveyard spurge I E. cyparissias L.) is a peren- 

 nial, propagating by rootstocks. which as an escape promises to 

 spread widely. It is often planted for ornament about country 

 cemeteries where it grows a foot high in large patches. The leaves 



