442 COMPOSITE. Lactuca. 



1. SCARIOLA, DC. Akenes very flat, orbicular to oblong, abruptly produced 

 into a filiform beak of softer texture, which bears the soft white pappus on its 

 dilated apex : involucre cylincTraceous or in fruit conoidal, glabrous : ours biennials 

 or sometimes annuals. 



* Introduced: heads G-12-flowered : akenes several-nerved, margined. 



L. ScAEfoLA, L. Strict, 2 to 6 feet high, glaucous-green, glabrous except lower part of stem, 

 which lias stiff bristles : leaves becoming vertical by a twist, lanceolate to oblong, with spinu- 

 lose-denticulate margins, sometimes sinuate-toothed, sometimes pinnatifid ; midrib beneath 

 beset with weak prickles rather than bristles ; base sagittate-clasping : panicle open : heads 

 small : flowers pale yellow : beak about the length of the obovate-oblong striate-nerved 

 akene. Waste ground, becoming common in Atlantic States near towns and habitations. 

 (Nat. from Eu.) 



* * Indigenous: heads 12-20-flowered: akenes blackish, obscurely scabrous-rugulose, lightly one- 

 nerved on the middle of each face, sometimes with obscure nerves toward the distinct thin mar- 

 gins; the beak a little shorter or longer than the body : most of the cauline leaves partly clasping 

 by a sagittate or auriculate base. 



f Involucre irregularly calyculate, but little imbricated, hardly over half-inch long. Species seem- 

 ingly confluent. 



L. Canadensis, L. (FIRE-WEED, WILD LETTUCE, TRUMPET-WEED.) Glabrous, glati- 

 cesceut : stem strict, 4 to 9 feet. high, very leafy up to the elongated narrow panicle: leaves 

 mostly siuuate-pinuatifid, G to 12 inches long, with margins entire or sparingly dentate, and 

 midrib naked or rarely some sparse bristles: involucre half-inch or less high: flowers pale 

 yellow: akenes broadly oval, rather longer than the beak. Spec. ii. 796; Gray, Man. 280. 

 L. CaroUniana, Walt. Car. 193'? L. longifolia, Michx. Fl. ii. 85. L. donguta, Muhl. in 

 Willd. Spec. iii. 1523 ; Pursh, Fl. ii. 252 ; Hook. Fl. i. 296 ; Torr. & Gray, 1. c.', var. longij^in. 

 Galathenium elongatum, Nutt. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. vii. 443. Sonchus pallidns, Willd. Spec, 

 iii. 1521; Pursh, 1. c., founded wholly on cliar. of Lnrfnra Canadensis, L. Rich moist 

 grounds, Nova Scotia and Canada to Saskatchewan, south to the upper part of Georgia. 



. Specimens from a grain-field in Sierra Valley, California, probably introduced with grain. 



L. integrifolia, BIGEL. Glabrous, less leafy, 3 or 4 feet high, loosely branched above, or 

 heads loosely paniculate : leaves oblong-lanceolate, acuminate (larger 7 to 10 inches long, 

 1|- to 3 inches broad), whitish beneath, denticulate, sometimes quite entire, all undivided, 

 midrib naked : involucre barely half-inch long : flowers yellow or purplish-tinged : akenes 

 oval, longer than the beak. Fl. Bost. ed. 2, 287; DC. 1. c. 137, not Nutt. L. sarjittifolia, 

 Ell. Sk. ii. 253. L. elongctta, var. integrifolia, Torr. & Gray, 1. c. L. Canadensis, var. inte- 

 grifolia, Gray, Man. 1. c. Galathenium integrifolium and partly G. salicifolium, Xutt. 1. c. 

 Open grounds, New England to Illinois and Georgia. 



L. hirsuta, MUHL. Stems 2 or 3 feet high, rather few-leaved, often reddish, the naked 

 summit paniculate-branched or bearing a loose panicle of heads, the base commonly hirsute: 

 leaves hirsute on both faces, or glabrous except the hirsute or hispid midrib, mostly runci- 

 nate-pinnatifid, with narrow rhachis; cauline 3 or 4 inches long: involucre rather over half- 

 inch long: flowers yellow-purple or dull red, or sometimes whitish: akeues oblong-oval, 

 about the length of the beak. Cat. & in Nutt. Gen. ii. 124. L. sanguima, Bigel. Fl. Bost. 

 ed. 2, 287. L. elongata, var. sanguinea & var. nlhi flora, Torr. & Gray, 1. c. L. Canadruxif, 

 Gray, Man. I.e. Galathenium sanguinnnn, & G. Floridanum, Nutt. 1. c. Dry and open 

 ground, E. Massachusetts to Louisiana and Texas. 



L. graminifolia, MICHX. Perhaps perennial, glaucescent and glabrous, or merely hispid 

 on the midrib beneath, or hirsute in the manner of the foregoing species : stem slender, 

 2 or 3 feet high, terminating in a naked loose panicle of comparatively large heads: leaves 

 elongated-linear or linear-lanceolate (4 to 12 inches long, 2 to 5 lines wide), rather rigid, 

 entire, or with spreading or deflexed lobes, or the radical spatulate-lanceolate and pinnatifid : 

 involucre 6 or 7 lines long, with outer bracts broader and more imbricated : flowers purple 

 or pale blue, varying to white or yellow: akenes elliptical-oblong, longer than the beak. 

 Fl. ii. 85; Ell. Sk. ii. 253; DC. Prodr. vii. 134; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. L. elo</af<i, var. gnniii- 

 nifolia, Chapm. Fl. 252. L. graminea, Spreng. Syst. iii. 659. Galathenium graminifolium 

 & G. salicifolium in part, Nutt. 1. c. Dry and fertile soil, S. Carolina to Florida and Texas ; 

 also New Mexico and Arizona. 



