272 



WEEDS AXD USEFUL PLANTS. 



Gardens, j'ards, and waste places : introduced. Native of Europe. Fl. Julj" - A ugust 

 F): Oct. 



Obs. This coarse and rather homely weed has become very extensivel3> 

 naturalized throughout the Uuited States, and is quite troublesome in 

 gardens. The young plant is sometimes used as a pot-herb, but would 

 be gladly dispensed with by all neat gardeners and farmers. 



■ * * 3Iore or less viscid glandular, with a strong balsamic odor, not mealy ; 

 embryo not forming a complete ring. 

 3. C. ambrosioi'des, L. Leaves oblong, acute at each end, remotely 

 dentate ; racemes interrupted, leafy. 

 AMBR0SL4.-LIKE Chexopodium. Mexicau Tea. 



Annual. Stem 1-2 feet liigli, much branched, angular. Leaves 1-2 inches long, — 

 those on the stem narrowed to kpsliole, those on the branches and racemes lance-linear, 

 mostly entire, subsessile. Flowers in interrupted sessile clusters, on slender axillary 

 leafv branches. 



Var. anthehninticum. Gray. Perennial {?). Leaves more strongly toothed, the lower 

 sometimes almost laciniate pinnatitid. Spikes mostly leafless. 

 Naturalized from tropical America. 



Obs. Most authors consider C. ambrosioi' des and C. anthelmin'ticum 

 as distinct species ; we follow Gray in placing the latter as a variety 

 of the former. Both forms are common in waste places, especially 

 southward ; they have both a strong odor which is most powerful and 

 disagreeable in the var. anthelmin'ticum, which is popularly known as 

 Worm-seed. The whole plant contains a volatile oil to which the odor 

 is due. This is most abundant in the seed, or rather in the utricle 

 vrhieh surrounds it. The seeds themselves, and the oil which they yield 

 are well-known and effective worm-destroying medicines. 



There are several other species of this genus to be met with, especially 

 near the coast, but they are not sufficiently common to be admitted 

 here. ^ * 



2. BETA, Tournef. Beet. 



[Celtic, Beti, red ; or from its fruit resembling the Greek letter B {Beta).'] 



Calyx urceolate, 5-cleft, finally indurated at base — the lobes remaining 

 unchanged. Ovary dej^ressed; stigmMS 2. Utricle immersed in the base 

 of the calyx and covered by the lobes. Seed horizontal. Herbaceous, 

 with a large fleshy root formed of concentric zones. Flowers glome- 

 rate in spike? or paniculate racemes. 



1. B. vulga'ris, L. Smoothish ; greenish purple ; lower leaves ovate- 

 oblong, wavy ; upper ones lance-ovate : flowers in dense sessile axillaiy 

 clusters, interruptedly spicate. 

 Common Beta. Beet. Garden-beet. Sugar-beet. 

 Fr. Bette-rave. Germ. Gemeiner Mangold. Span. Acelga. 



Root biennial, fleshy, large (often 3-4 inches in diameter and more than a foot long) 

 terete, tapering downwards, deep purple or yellowish — exhibiting, on a transvei'se section, 

 c'jncentric layers, which seem to have some relation to the number and size or vigor off 



