8 



WEEDS. 



shaped; stigmas thickish. Pericarp: capsule ovate, covered 

 partly by the calyx, of one cell, and five valves. Seeds numer- 

 ous, globose, but depressed, surrounded v^^ith more or less of 

 a notched or dilated border. 



Essential generic character. — Calyx of five leaves ; petals 

 five, undivided. Capsule superior, ovate, of one cell, with five 

 valves. 



This genus differs from the " Cerastium," in having un- 

 divided petals. Their general habit also differs more than is 

 the case with most genera of this natural order, that of 

 " Spergula" nearly according with various " Arenariae," from 

 which the five styles only distinguish it. The smooth-seeded 

 spurrey has but five stamens. 



The " Spergula arvensis," or " rough-seeded corn spurrey," 

 is the most common species in Britain. Leaves in whorles, 

 forming two bundles, about eight in each ; stalks of the fruit 

 reflexed. Seeds kidney-shaped, angular, rough. Root annual, 

 small, fibrous. Herb more or less downy and viscid, very 

 various in luxuriance, somewhat succulent and brittle, with a 

 branched, round, loosely spreading stem, a foot in length, 

 swelling globular, whose joints are beset with copious whorled, 

 linear, obtuse leaves. Panicles many-flowered, terminal, 

 forked, divaricated, level-topped. Flower stalks downy, 

 strongly reflexed from the base, as the fruit ripens. Stipules 

 in pairs at the joints. Calyx, membranous at the edge, nearly 

 as long as the white petals. Stamens, generally ten, sometimes 

 five, or some intermediate number. Capsule, almost twice as 

 long as the calyx. Seeds numerous, kidney-shaped, or 

 roundish, swelling, angular, with an obsolete, not dilated, nor 

 membranous border ; when ripe, they are black, and rough all 

 over with minute tubercles or bristles. Poultry are fed with 

 the seeds, and the herb serves as fodder over the continent of 

 Euro])e. 



" Spurrey " is a very troublesome weed on a light soil. It 

 flowers from July to September. The bulk is not great, nor 

 the growth luxuriant; yet it is quick and very tenacious of 

 life, and produces seeds in a very plentiful manner. In 

 northern damp climates, whole fields of moorish light soils 

 are so much infested with it, that the crop is often wholly de- 



