Native. Annual. Propagates by seeds. Time of bloom: July to September.

Fig. 63. -Climbing False Buckwheat (Polygonum scan-dens). X 1/4.

Fig. 64. - Winged Pigweed (Cy-cloloma atriplicifolium). X1/6.

Seed-time: Late August to November.

Range: Manitoba to the Northwest Territory, through the Middle

West to Arizona. Habitat: Plains; sandy soil; fields, waste places.

A low and broadly branching plant, six to twenty inches in height, the stem and branches somewhat striped and angular, with reddish joints, often webby-haired when young but soon becoming smooth. Leaves one to three inches long, lance-shaped, with wavy and irregular but sharp teeth, narrowing at base to short, slim petioles; when young they are pale green, but they usually turn dark purple as the plant matures. Flowers in loosely spreading, interrupted panicles, very small, sessile, and scattered unevenly on the spikes; calyx urn-shaped, with five pointed lobes, keeled and curved inward, around the base of which develops a thin, membranous, horizontal wing, or border; stamens five; styles three or occasionally two. Seed flattened and horizontal, crusta-ceous. (Fig. 64.)

As the plants mature the empurpled leaves fall away, the spreading branches harden and bend their tips inward, the brittle stems part from the roots close to the ground, and after that the plants are tumbleweeds, at the sport of varying winds, seeding the soil over which they roll.

Means Of Control

Destroy while young by hoe-cutting or hand-pulling. Maturing plants should be cut and burned. Stragglers of roadsides and waste land should receive attention, for a few tumblers from such sources may seed a wide area.