¥ 
et 
‘% 
in S88. 
SONCHUS rapicatus. 
Long-rooted Sow-thistle. 
Nat. Ord. Composit#.—SyYNGENESIA ASQUALIS. 
Gen. Char. Capitulum wmulti- vel pauci-florum. Jnvolucrum imbricatum, basi 
_yentricosum demumque spongiosum. eceptaculum nudum. Achenia com- 
presso-tetragona, ovato-oblonga, longitudinaliter striata, plerumque transverse 
muricato-granulata, rarius glabra, alutacea, brunnea v. nigrescentia, erostrata, 
vel rostro brevi robusto terminata, basi plerumque prominentiis 4 notata. Pap- 
pus persistens v. caducus; se¢is vero basi non in annulum ut in Picridio concre- 
tis, vel singulis vel pluribus basi connatis, niveis, mollibus, digitis facile adhe- 
rentibus, distanter breve antrorso-extrorso-denticulatis v. subsimplicibus (saltem 
sub lente, magis auctis vero denticulis confertioribus munitis quam sete cras- 
siores), ineequalibus, intimis nempe pluribus, ceteris crassioribus, rarissime sub- 
equalibus. Schuléz. 
Soncuus radicatus ; fruticosus glaber glaucus, foliis fere omnibus radicalibus 
lyratis lobis rotundatis superficialiter et minute sinuatis, caulinis paucis 
cordatis, auriculis rotundatis, pedicellis subnudis, involucri subimbricati 
squamis exterioribus ovatis, interioribus linearibus, receptaculo favoso, 
acheniis brunneis glabris striatis, pappi subuniserialis caduci setis falcatis. 
Webb. 
Soncuus radicatus. Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. 1. v. 3. p. 116; ed. 2. v. 4. p. 436. 
Willd. Sp. Pl.v.3. p. 1511. De Cand. Prodr. v.71. p. 188. Webb, Phy- 
togr. Canar. v. 3. p. 436. t. 128. 
No less than sixteen species of Sonchus or Sow-thistle, be- 
sides the present one, inhabit the Canary Islands. But we must 
not judge of them from the weedy nature of our British species, 
for in the subgenus Dendrosonchus of Mr. Webb, to which our 
plant belongs, are some which are described as arboreous, and 
which, from their size and peculiarity of form, constitute strik- 
ing features in the landscape. Our present species is of a much 
humbler character, yet shrubby, and remarkable for the deeply 
lyrate leaves, very hoary, or as it were frosted with short down, 
and for the large size of the flowers. S. radicatus was intro- 
duced into Kew Gardens by Masson in 1780. Plants were 
reared, from seed sent by Mr. Webb, in his garden at Milford ; 
and it has been, through Dr. Bolle, very recently imported by 
OCTOBER Ist, 1860. 
