Lactuca.] LXXVII COMPOSITE. (J. D. Hooker.) 403 
(except in Sect. L) inner slender subequal, outer often very short; receptacle 
flat, naked. -Achenes compressed or flattened, ovoid oblong or narrow, beaked, 
faces 3-oo-ribbed ; ribs slender or strong, smooth or rugose, the middle one 
often strongest; beak slender or short and cylindrie, dilated into an entire or 
toothed pappiferous disk; pappus copious, hairs very slender, simple, usually 
soft and white, but very variable, persistent or separately deciduous, sometimes 
with a minnte outer ring.—DrsrRIB. Species about 60, Ñ. temperate regions. 
The species here brought together under Lactuca differ greatly in habit, some 
approaching in this respect to species of Launea, others to Prenanthes, and others 
again to Crepis. I have found it impossible to group them by the achenes or pappus, 
and I have had recourse to characters of habit. 
Secr. I. Herbs (habit of Laune) with radical leaves and spicate or race- 
mose heads on long strict flowering branches. Heads erect or spreading, narrow, 
cylindric, peduncles bracteolate; invol. bracts with broad membranous margins, 
outer very small; ligules yellow. Achenes with muricate ribs; pappus silky, 
persistent. (BRACHYRAMPHUS, DC.) 
l. L. Heyneana, DC. Prodr. vii. 140; tall, glabrous, leaves runcinate- 
pinnatifid finely spinulose or ciliate-toothed membranous radical narrowed at 
the base, cauline j-amplexicaul auricled, flowerirg stems slender, branches 
erect, heads j in. long solitary or fascicled, fascicles distant spiked or subrace- 
mose, achenes shortly beaked muricate black half the length of the flexuous 
silvery persistent pappus. Clarke Comp. Ind. 261, evel. some syns. L. runcinata, 
DC. in Wight Contrib, 26. Brachyramphus Heyneana, Wight Ic. t. 1146; 
Dalz. § Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 132. B. sonchifolius, Thwaites Enum. 168, not of DC. 
D. taraxacoides, DC. Le 177 ; Wall. Cat. 3279. Prenanthes racemosa, Roxb. 
Fl. Ind. iii. 405. P. sonchifolia, Heyne in Wall. Cat. 3200. P. patens, Wall. 
Cat. 3258, in part. Microrhynchus patens, DC. l.c. 181. Chondrilla racemosa, 
Poir. Encyl. Suppl. ii. 330, in part. Sonchus calyculatus, Roxb. mss. 
Nortu Western IxprA ; Royle, Stewart. Banna; Edgeworth, WESTERN PENIN- 
SULA; common in fields, Cryron; Galle, Gardner. 
Annual or biennial, 1-4 ft. high; stem hollow below, often very stout and much 
branched. Radical leaves 6-12 in., very irregularly pinnatifid, teeth more cartilagi- 
nous. Heads rarely peduncled, bracteolate ; inner invol. bracts with thickened ribs 
in fruit. Achenes 35 in., oblanceolate, then suddenly contraeted.—I have seen no 
Ceylon specimens, nor any of Wallich’s Prenanthes taraxacoides, which is not in his 
Herbarium. 
2. L. remotiflora, DC. in Wight Contrib. 26; glabrous, radical leaves 
obovate or obovate-spathulate or orbicular finely spinulose or ciliate-toothed 
membranous, radical narrowed at the base, cauline }-amplexicaul and auricled, 
flowering-stems very slender, branches erect, heads 4 in. long few racemose 
long-peduncled, achenes shortly beaked muricate black nearly as long as the 
soft silvery persistent pappus. L. Schimperi, Jaub. § Spach. IU. Pl. Orient. t. 
281. Brachyramphus sonchifolius, DC. Prodr. vii. 177 ; Dalz. § Gibs. Bomb. 
Zi 132. Cacalia sonchifolia, Wall. Cat. 3144 D. 
Banva; Edgeworth. Scrxp ` Stocks.—DisTRIB. Arabia. 
A smaller and more delicate plant than L. Heyneana, with nearly entire (rarely 
sinuate-pinnatifid) smaller leaves, less branched flowering stems, heads solitary with 
peduncles as long as themselves, and achenes 2 in. long. 
Szcr. II. Herbs with intricate dichotomous stiff sometimes spinescent 
branches and small cauline leaves. Heads sessile, in spiked fascicles or solitary, 
erect, narrowly cylindric; invol. bracts with broad membranous margins; ligules 
yellow. Achenes indistinctly beaked, smooth; pappus silvery. (PHaNrxorvs, 
Cass.) 
DD2 
