This is an annual, from one to four feet high, with smooth stem and whitish flowers. It is common in low grounds. Goosefoot Family (Chenopodiaceae).-Herbs or occa

sionally shrubs, frequently succulent; leaves mostly

alternate without stipules; flowers small, greenish, regular or slightly irregular; clustered or solitary in the axils of the leaves; calyx two to five lobed or two to five-parted or (rarely) a single sepal; stamens as many as the lobes or occasionally fewer; ovary onecelled, ovule solitary; fruit utricle with a thin membrane (pericarp) or rarely an achene. A small order of about 500 species of

Fig. 100. Pennsylvania smartweed wide distribution. Many (Polygonum pennsylvanicum).

are troublesome Spinach, beet, greasewood, sea blite, white sage, and sugar beet belong to this order.

weeds.

Winged Pigweed or Western Tumbleweed (Cycloloma atriplicifolium, (Spreng.) Coult.). An annual, diffusely branched, smooth or occasionally pubescent, alternately petioled, occasionally petioled, flowers in panicles and interrupted spikes; calyx five-lobed, stamens five, styles three, seed horizontal, flat, coats crustaceous; the winged calyx incloses the fruit, the lobes Fig. 101. Slensmartweed not entirely covering the summit of the (Polygonum lautricle. Common in the sandhills west of pathifolium).

der

the Missouri River, and also eastward around the great lakes. Plant grows in spherical form and at maturity separates from the roots close to the surface of the ground. A well-known western tumbleweed.

Kochia or Mexican Fireweed (Kochia scoparia, (L.) Schrad.).—An annual, erect, puberulent or glabrate herb; leaves lanceolate to linear, ciliate; flowers sessile in the axils of the upper leaves forming short, dense, bracted

spikes; fruiting calyx segments each with a short triangular horizontal wing. In waste places commonly cultivated and now a frequent escape especially in the West.

Mexican Tea (Chenopodium ambrosioides, L.).— A

smoothish

nearly entire; spikes densely flowered,

Fig. 102. Winged pigweed (Cycloma leafy; fruit inclosed atriplicifolium).

in the calyx. Com

mon especially southward in waste places, streets, and roadsides.

Fremont's Goosefoot (Chenopodium Fremontii, S. Wat.).—A light green annual with erect branched stems; leaves thin, broadly triangular, hastate, sinuate dentate; the upper entire, base truncate or narrowed, petioled; spikes, slender divisions of perianth nearly inclosing the utricle; seed shining. Common from South Dakota to Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Nevada to Montana.

Other troublesome species are maple-leaved goosefoot (Chenopodium hybridum), bright green, thin leaves, somewhat triangular, heart shaped, and taper pointed. A tall and coarse weed.

Goosefoot or Lamb's Quarter (Chenopodium album, L.). An erect annual growing from one to four feet high; young plants generally mealy and furnish a very good substitute for aspara

gus; old plants smooth; leaves rhombic-ovate to lanceolate, upper leaves sometimes linear; flowers quite inconspicuous, produced in dense, clustered panicles; seeds small, black and frequently inclosed by a thin membrane called the utricle. Abundant in all parts of the Mississippi Valley and seen as far West as the coast. Native to Europe, and common in eastern North America as well as in Europe and Asia.

Goosefoot or lamb's

Fig. 103. quarter (Chenopodium album).

Orach (Atriplex patula, L.)-Erect or prostrate, glabrous. Leaves narrowly lanceolate hastate, the lower entire or nearly so, petioled, the upper leaves linear; flowers in slender spikes. Fruiting bracts ovate-triangular, entire or toothed. From northeastern United States to Missouri and British Columbia.

Russian Thistle (Salsola Kali, L., var. tenuifolia, G. W. F. Mey.). An herbaceous, smooth or slightly pubescent annual, very diffusely branched from the base and spherical in the mature form, which is from one to three and one-half feet tall; leaves fleshy, succulent and arranged

alternately on the stem, one or two inches long, pointed in the older plants, on which the leaves are persistent, flowers inconspicuous, solitary and sessile; stem and branches red; calyx five-lobed, persistent inclosing the dry fruit, usually red in color. Sometimes called tumbleweed from

Fig. 104. Russian thistle (Salsola Kali, var. tenuifolia).

its habit of rolling over the prairies when dry. By this means the seed is scattered. An introduced weed from northern Europe, now found in the Mississippi Valley, New York, and the Western States.

Amaranth Family (Amaranthaceae). Herbs with inconspicuous greenish flowers, imbricated with persistent bracts; the flowers usually in terminal spikes or axillary heads; pistils none, calyx herbaceous or membranous; stems one to five, mostly op

posite; ovule one-celled, ovary solitary; fruit a utricle, one-seeded, seed small, minute.

Green Pig Weed (Amaranthus retroflexus, L.).-A coarse, persistent herb more or less pubescent; leaves dull green, long petioled, ovate or rhombic-ovate; spikes thick and crowded; bracts awn-pointed and rigid, exceeding the scarious tipped sepals, stamens five; seed black and shiny. This weed is common throughout North America, except far northward.

The Amaranthus hybridus is similar to the preceding but smoother and deeper green; spines and linear-cylindrical

bracts subulate, much longer than the cuspidate sepals. Native to tropical America; not as abundant as the preceding, in waste places. The spiny amaranth (Amaranthus spinosus) has a stout stem with ovate or rhombic ovate leaves, with a pair of rigid stipular spines at each node; flowers in capitate, axillary clusters and monoecious. The tumbleweed (Amaranthus albus) is

smooth and pale green, stems erect or ascending, branching, sepals acuminate, bracts pungently pointed, seeds small. Common throughout eastern North America. The prostrate pigweed (Amaranthus blitoides) is like the last, but prostrate; it has contracted spikelets with obtuse or acute sepals. A common weed in wet ground along roadsides.

Water Hemp (Acnida tuberculata, Moq.).-Tall, erect herb with lanceolate leaves, usually acute or acutish; flowers dioecious; sepals of the staminate flowers lanceolate; pistillate flowers clustered in more or less dense, naked, or leafy axillary, or terminal spikes; seeds smooth and shining. A very common weed in low grounds, especially in sandy soil.

Fig. 105. Orach (Atriplex patula, L.).

Juba Bush (Iresine paniculata, (L.) Kuntze).—Closely related to the above, is a tall herb with opposite petioled leaves and small three-bracted white flowers produced in large terminal panicles, flowers very numerous, calyx of five sepals, pistillate, woolly, flowers white. Its distribution, from Ohio to Kansas, Texas to Florida.

Froelichia (Froelichia floridana, Moq.).-Very woolly, stem nearly leafless, one to three feet high, with annual root; lanceolate leaves, silky and downy beneath; flowers