56 



WEEDS. 



the leaves ovate, marked with lines, sharply toothed. Root 

 annual. Stem from two to four inches high or more, upright, 

 round, hoary, purple, for the most part branched, in opposite 

 pairs. Leaves opposite, sessile, obtuse, convex above, concave 

 beneath, finely ciliate about the edge, sHghtly hirsute on each 

 side, above somewhat glossy. Flowers from the axils of the 

 leaves, on short peduncles, opposite, forming a spike or ra- 

 ceme at the tops of the branches and stem. It differs much 

 in size and colour of the corolla, which varies to quite white 

 and yellow ; it is more or less branching, and sometimes wholly 

 unbranched. It seems to have been unnoticed by the 

 ancients, and there appears to be no foundation for the old 

 notion of its being useful in disorders of the eyes. 



This plant flowers from July to September, and grows very 

 common on heaths and other dry pastures, especially on a 

 chalky soil. It sheds a fair quantity of ready growing seeds, 

 and, the root being annual, the prevention of the seeds being 

 perfected offers the only way of eradicating the plant. Top- 

 dressings with well-prepared composts have always the effect 

 of banishing weeds, and of bringing forward the useful grasses. 

 Close grazing of the land with sheep, has the same effect ; 

 and the folding of the animals regularly over the field will 

 produce a very good herbage, which will last for several years. 

 This is a very cheap and effectual mode of restoring neglected 

 and worn-out pastures, where, for special reasons, the plough- 

 ing up of the sward is absolutely forbidden. 



20. " Sedge grasses," or the " Carex " of botany, are very 

 common on old, sour, moist, clayey lands, of the meadow and 

 pasture kind, that are undrained and unimproved. It belongs 

 to the class and order Monoecia triandria " of Linneus, and 

 the natural order " Cyperoidese " of Jussieu. 



Generic character. — Flowers disposed in one or more ob- 

 long, imbricated catkins ; the male and female in some species 

 are the same, in others on distinct catkins. Male : calyx glume, 

 one-valved, one-flowered, lanceolate-acute, concave, perma- 

 nent. Corolla none. Stamina : filaments three, bristle- 

 shaped, erect, longer than the calyx; anthers erect, long, 

 linear. Female : calyx as in the male. Corolla : petals 



