60 



WEEDS a:sd useful plants. 



Annual or biennial. Stems 8-15 inches long, dichotomously 'braucliing Leaves }i an 

 mch to an inch long. Peduncles axillary, l-flowered. 

 Common. Native of Europe. 



Obs. This little plant, so common around dwellings, is found in 

 almost_ every part of the world. It is exceedingly hardy, and may be 

 found in flower even in the winter months ; wherever the snow melts 

 away the little star-like flowers appear. During the warmer months the 

 flowers are much less conspicuous, the ovary being usually fertilized 



without the flowers expanding. In damp cold soils it is sufficiently 

 abundant to be troublesome, and sometimes occupies the soil to the 

 exclusion of everything else. It is often given to canary and other cage 

 birds. * 



6. SPER'GULA, L. Spurrey. 



[Name from the Latin, Spargo, to scatter.] 



Sepals 5. Petals 5, entire. Stamens 5-10. Styles 5. Capsw^e 5-valved, 

 valves opposite the sepals. Seeds orbicular with a narrow margin. Low 

 herbs with narrow whorled leaves and minute stipules. 

 I. S. arvensis, L. Leaves linear and thread-like, many in a whorl ; 



Fig. 37 Chickweed (Stellaria media). 38. An enlarged flower. 33 A petal. 



