COMPOSITE FAMILY 



scariola in habit and appearance, but with runcinate- 

 pinnatifid lower leaves and spiny midribs is fairly 

 abundant in northern Ohio. 



WILD LETTUCE. TALL LETTUCE 



Lactuca Canadensis 



Biennial or annual. A leafy stem, often six feet high, 

 with lower leaves irregularly lobed or pinnatifid, twelve 



or more inches long and lessening 

 in size as they ascend the stem. 

 In moist, half-shaded places at 

 the edge of woodlands and 

 thickets and along fences. Nova 

 Scotia to the Northwest Terri- 

 tory, south to Georgia, Loui- 

 siana, and Arkansas. July- 

 November. 



Stem. — Three to ten feet high, 

 erect, strong, leafy up to the in- 

 florescence; with milky juice. 



Leaves. — Alternate, six to 

 twelve inches long, variable, 

 mostly sinuate-pinnatifid, the up- 

 per often lanceolate and entire, 

 sometimes all the leaves are nar- 

 row and entire, except the lowest. 



Flower-heads. — Ligulate-composite, that is, all perfect 

 ray-florets; borne in a long, bushy loose panicle of many 

 stems. Heads small, pale yellow, about twenty-flowered. 

 Involucre cylindrical; scales in sets of unequal lengths; 

 akenes oval, bearing very soft, white pappus. 



Noticeably a tall and leafy stalk rising from three 

 to ten feet in moist, open places at the edge of a thicket 



2.^6 



Leaf and Flower of Tall Lettuce. 

 Lactuca Canadensis 



