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MISC. PUBLICATION 110, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



pea family) ; same as banner and 

 standard. 



Villous: Shaggy; beset with long, soft, 

 weak hairs. 



Virgate: Wandlike; rodlike; straight, 

 stiff, slender, and elongated. As, 

 for example, the virgate shoots of a 

 willow, or the virgate inflorescence 

 of gayfeather (Lacinaria sp.). 



Viscid : Sticky or gummy to the touch ; 

 glutinous. 



Viscous: Same as viscid. 



Weed: To the farmer, a plant out of 

 place, especially an aggressive and 

 pestiferous,, often coarse, usually 

 herbaceous, introduced plant species 

 (such as crabgrass, dandelion, mus- 

 tard, plantain, and wild carrot) 

 which takes possession of cultivated 

 and fallow fields and pastures. To 

 the stockman, a weed is a herbace- 

 ous, nongrasslike plant occurring on 

 the range. A considerable number 

 of the weeds of the farmer are good 

 range forage plants of the western 

 stockman, especially on those ranges 

 where under unfavorable growing 

 conditions the same aggressiveness 

 which renders a species a pest in 

 agricultural land clothes it with 

 utility if it possesses palatability. 

 Some writers object to the use of 

 the term weed for nongrasslike her- 

 baceous range plants, but it is firmly 

 intrenched in western range par- 

 lance, and until a better term is 

 forthcoming and meets with favor, 

 it seems idle to attempt to replace 

 it. Clements has suggested the 

 term " forb." Other suggestions are 

 " wort " and " broad-leaved herb." 

 Weeds, as applied to herbaceous 

 nongrasslike plants, constitute, with 

 browse, grasses, and grasslike 

 plants, the four main groups into 

 which western range plants are cus- 

 tomarily divided. 



Whorl: An arrangement of three or 

 more leaves or other organs in a 

 circle about a stem or other com- 

 mon axis. (Fig. 76.) Same as ver- 

 ticil. 



Whorled: Arranged in a whorl (fig. 

 76) ; same as verticillate. 



Wing: A thin (or relatively so), wing- 

 like expansion or part, especially: 

 (1) One of the two lateral (side) 

 petals of a pea family blossom (pa- 

 pilionaceous corolla) (fig. 48, &), 

 and (2) a (usually lateral or angu- 

 lar) projection from a fruit, as in 

 many umbellifers, certain species of 

 saltbush (Atriplex), and of the 

 four-o'clock family (Allioniaceae), 

 etc. 



Winged: Provided with wings, as the 

 winged fruits of cow-parsnip (Eer- 

 acleum lanatum). 



Figure 76. — A whorl. Whorled 

 or verticillate leaves, as in 

 bedstraw (Galium) or lily 

 (Lilium) 



Wort: An herb. An old Anglo-Saxon 

 word now seldom used except as a 

 suffix; e. g., figwort, St. Johnswort, 

 sandwort, whitlowwort, etc. A pos- 

 sible substitute for the word weed 

 in the stockman's sense. See weed. 



Xerophyte: A plant adapted to arid 

 conditions ; a desert plant. Cacti 

 are familiar examples of xerophytes. 



Xerophytic: Of or pertaining to xero- 

 phytes or desert plants. As a xero- 

 phytic habitat, or xerophytic leaf 

 and stem modifications. 



Xylem: Woody tissue; one of the two 

 main divisions of fibrovascular 

 bundles (the other being phloem), 

 and consisting of wood fibers, 

 tracheal tissue, etc. 



U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1931 



