| Leon Slichter is kneeling in a Common Crupina infestation. He states that this is Common Crupina, which is an annual, which reproduces from seed. He points to some plants and says, we have 3 or 4 plants here that are medium height. We had a real poor year here for growing things - we had a dry, cold spring and then a wet, cold spring. A lot of times these will be 2 feet with some reaching 3 feet and we're right in the middle of a pretty good infestation of it. It reproduces by seed, it has a really heavy seed and compared to other weed seeds, it isn't wind borne very much. The seed viability is only about 2 years. Leon pulls out a plant and holds it up and states that it's an annual with a small tap root. The seeds basically have a set of double wings on them and when they drop out the wind doesn't have much affect on them because they are a heavy seed. They are moved by all kinds of activity - wildlife, livestock, people, ATVs. He holds up the root which is only about 6 inches long and reiterates that it reproduces only by seed and the main mode of moving it is disturbance.
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