Tas. 5219. 
SONCHUS GuMMIFER. 
Gum-bearing Sow-thistle. 
Nat. Ord. Composit&®.—SYNGENESIA AQUALIS. 
Gen. Char. (Vide supra, TaB. 5211.) 
Soncuus gummifer ; fruticosus glaber glaucescens ; foliis subpectinato-pinnati- 
partitis, pinnis cum lobo terminali oblongo-triangulari acutis dente uno 
alterove munitis, radicalibus (seu inferioribus) minute auriculatis, caulinis 
parvis cordato-auriculatis ; corymbi compositi (vel pauciflori) pedicellis sub- 
nudis (apice insigniter dilatatis spongiosis coloratis), capitulis post anthesin 
cernuis ; involueri imbricati squamis exterioribus ovatis acutis interioribus 
linearibus, receptaculo areolato floribus glabris, acheniis striatis glabris, 
pappo caduco niveo subuniseriali. Wedd. 
Soncuus gummifer. Link (ex Webb, qui specimen herbarii Berolin. comparavit) 
in Buch. Canar.. p.146 et 164. Webb, Canar. t. 129. Spreng. Syst. Veget. 
p. 647. De Cand. Prodr. v. 7. p. 188. 
This is another of the fruticose Sonchuses, which appear to 
be almost peculiar to the Canary Islands, and which our friend 
Mr. Wilson Saunders has lately introduced to his and other 
English gardens. The Sonchus radicatus of Aiton is given at 
our Tab. 5211: the present species is very different in its fo- 
liage, and in the much taller shrubby stem. I refer it to the 
S. gunmifer of Link and Webb with some degree of doubt, for 
the flowers are larger, and fewer upon a panicle, and there is at 
the apex of the pedicels a remarkable coloured expansion of a 
spongy nature, somewhat resembling the apophysis of a Splach- 
num, which is neither figured nor described by Webb. In all 
other respects the two appear to be identical, and the distinct 
presence of this apophysis may be due to the specimen from 
which our figure is taken being a living one. It flowered in 
Mr. Saunders’s greenhouse at Reigate in July, 1860. It was 
received by that gentleman from Dr. Bolle, who found it in 
rocky places. In regard to the specific name of gummifer, Mr. 
DECEMBER Ist, 1860. 
