Root creeping-, so as scarcely to be eradicated, round, about as 
thick as a crow-quill, white and milky. Stems numerous, from 1 to 
3 feet, or more, long, twining from right to left (sinistrorsum), or 
contrary to the apparent motion of the sun ; often prostrate from the 
absence of any support, branched, leafy, slender, angular, twisted, 
and slightly downy. Leaves alternate, smooth, on channelled foot- 
stalks, arrow-shaped, or halbert-shaped, with pointed lobes. Flower- 
stalks axillary, as long as the leaves, 1, 2, or 3-flowered, angular, 
and swelling upwards. Bractea small, and distant from the flower, 
generally about the middle of the peduncle or flower-stalk. Flowers 
about an inch broad, very beautiful, of every shade of pink, with 
paler or yellowish plaits, and stains of crimson in the lower part, 
they are frequently quite white. Anthers red, or white. Germen 
egg-shaped, surrounded at the base by a yellow glandular nectary. 
Style thread-shaped. Stigmas strap-shaped, downy. Capsules 
roundish, of 3 or 4 cells. Seeds large, angular, brown. The 
flowers close before rainj. 
This is a handsome plant, but it is a great pest to the Farmer and 
Gardener, as its roots spread very much, and run deep in the soil, 
it is with great difficulty destroyed. It is said, that perseverance in 
hoeing, to prevent the young shoots from expanding their leaves, 
will in one season exhaust the roots, so that a naked summer fallow, 
with deep ploughing, and careful forking out, will effectually over- 
come this evil; but Mr. Curtis has proved by an experiment, that 
cutting down the plants, even below the surface, only tends to spread 
them farther. 
No apology, I trust, is necessary for the introduction of the follow- 
ing beautiful lines, addressed to the 
Convolvulus Arvensis. 
“ Thy beauty blushing through the dew, 
Which summer sheds at early morn ; 
Fair fading flower 1 love to view, 
Beneath the shade of yellow corn. 
From sister beauties of the field, 
That blush unseen 1 turn to thee. 
For thou in simple guise can’st yield 
What half the world denies to me. 
A tender feeling of delight. 
Attends me at thy humble shrine, 
I trace the eternal hand of might, 
In these decaying tints of thine. 
The rude untutor’d reaper by. 
Without a ray from science caught. 
Beholds the same memorials nigh, 
And owns sweet truth’s by nature taught. 
But ah ! thy waning beauty tells 
(Though silent) of the year’s decline, 
AVith these wild dew-besprinkled bells. 
Fade all the charms which round me shine.” 
Oxrortn, SF.rT.20, 1833. J. AV. Slatteh. 
$ According to the observations of Linnaeus, cows, goats, sheep, and horses 
eat it, swine refuse it. 
