98 



THE INDTAXA WEED BOOK. 



circle of little milk pitchers set close together with their lips point- 

 ing outward. The many seeds are widely distributed by being 

 blown over the snow and carried in hay and other craps. By some 

 farmers it is considered one of the worst weeds with which they 

 have to deal in bottom corn lands. Remedies: pulling or cutting 

 before the blossoms appear; burning the mature plants before fall 

 plowing ; cultivation of hoed crops. 



The bast, or inner fibrous bark, of this weed is a jute substi- 

 tute which may be made into twine, rope and paper. In China 

 the plant is cultivated for this fibre, which is exported under the 

 name of China jute. The fibre from young plants takes dye readily 

 and is fine enough to work into yarn for carpet fillings and coarse 

 fabrics. Experiments in the cultivation and manufacture of the 

 fibre have been made in Illinois and New Jersey. The cultivation 

 was successful but the enterprises failed on account of the lack of 

 economical machinery for extracting the fibre.* 



The St. John's-wort Family.— HYPERICACE^E. 



Herbs or shrubby plants with opposite entire leaves which are 

 always marked w r ith glandular or small black dots, these pellucid 

 when held against the light. Flowers in panicles or cymes at the 

 end of slender stems ; sepals 4 or 5, greenish ; petals 4 or 5, yellow ; 

 stamens many, arranged in 3 or more clusters. Pod 1 to 5-celled 



with numerous seeds. About 20 species 

 occur in the State, all natives but one, and 

 it, like many other introduced plants, a 

 vile weed. 



61. Hypericum perforatum L. Common St. 

 John's-wort. Herb John. (I*. I. 3.) 



Erect from ;i woody base, 1-2 feet high, 

 much branched ; leaves oblong- or linear, ses- 

 sile, less than an inch in length. Petals deep 

 yellow with numerous black dots, twice the 

 length of the lanceolate acnte sepals. Pod 8- 

 celled; seeds oblong, numerous, 1/20 inch 

 long, surface with rows of pits. (Figs. 12, d ; 

 65.) 



Frequent in pastures and moist mead- 

 ows. June-Sept. The crushed leaves are 

 odorous and contain a very acrid juice. 

 The name St. John's-wort was given it by 

 the peasants of France and Germany who 

 gather it with great ceremony upon St. 



'Dodge.— "A Descriptive Catalogue of flic Useful Fibre Plaids of the World." 1897. 



(After Vasey.) 



