MINNESOTA WEEDS, SERIES III 21 



Canada Milk Vetch (Astragalus canadensis L.) 



Other common name. — Canadian rattleweed. 



Description. — Canada, milk vetch, a perennial plant, grows from 

 one to four feet high. It is propagated most commonly by seeds, 

 which are yellow-green in color and more or less flat and kidney- 

 shaped. It. grows particularly well in dry gravelly soil and is often 

 found along streams and in waste places and also in cultivated fields. 

 It blossoms from July to August and seeds from August to November. 

 The flowers are greenish yellow in color, very numerous, and clustered 

 together in dense spikes. The leaves are compound, each being made 

 up of from twenty-one to twenty-seven oblong leaflets. Seeds are 

 occasionally found in the seed of red clover, timothy, and alfalfa. 



Eradication. — Destroy the plants of Canada milk vetch before 

 seeds form by mowing, pulling, or hoeing out. If fields are badly 

 infested, plow and plant to a cultivated crop. 



Indian Mallow (Abut Hon theophrasti Medic.) 



Other common names. — Velvet leaf, American jute, butter print. 



Description. — Indian mallow is not a native plant. It grows par- 

 ticularly well in rich soil and is often found in waste places, farm 

 yards,, and vacant city lots. It is an annual weed, flowering from July 

 to October and seeding from August to November. The plant gen- 

 erally grows from three to eight feet high and is very stout and some- 

 what branched. It has very large velvety, heart-shaped leaves from 

 three to twelve inches broad, and on account of the velvety texture of 

 the leaf the plant is often called velvet leaf. The large deep yellow, 

 five-parted flower afterwards develops into a peculiar fruit made up 

 of from twelve to fifteen hairy carpels with spreading beaks. The 

 kidney-shaped seeds are grayish brown, one eighth of an inch long. 

 They are seldom found in commercial seed. 



Eradication. — Prevent seeding. Cut out all growing plants of 

 Indian mallow before seeds mature. Practice good tillage and clean 

 cultivation. Keep waste places occupied with grass or other crops. 



Water Hemlock (Cicuta maculata L.) 



Other common names. — Spotted cowbane, musquash root, beaver 

 poison, muskrat weed, death-of-man, children's bane ; also wrongly 

 called water parsnip. 



