WEEDS OF MAINE. 265 



nial plant, common in door yards, by the roadsides, in fields and 

 in pastures. The root is long and tapering, full of milky juice, and 

 quite difficult to exterminate ; it is employed medicinally, and is 

 frequently used as a substitute for, or to mix with coffee. The 

 leaves and flower buds are used for greens ; for this purpose it 

 would be much better to cultivate the plants in the garden. The 

 name dandelion is a corruption of the French name dent de leon, 

 or lion's tooth. The seeds are furnished with copious hairs — the 

 persistent pappus — which enable them to be carried to a great 

 distance by the winds. To exterminate the dandelion it is neces- 

 sary to cultivate the soil well, with three or four years rotation of 

 carops. 



71. Wild Lettuce — Lactuca Canadensis Biennial. Stem two to nine feet high, thick 

 and hollow, leafy, smooth, often purple. Leaves deeply cut and toothed, three to eight 

 inches long, the upper ones narrow, entire. Heads very numerous. Florets yellow, 

 varying to purplish. 



A coarse rank weed, common in rich damp soil along the bor- 

 ders of fields and thickets. A thick milky juice exudes from the 

 stem when broken. It is often known by the name of Milk-weed. 

 For its extermination, allow none of it to go to seed. 



72. Common Sow-Thistle — Sonchus oleraceus. Annual. Stem one to three feet high, 

 hollow, tender. Leaves three to eight inches long — lower ones deeply cut with spiny 

 teeth, on short stalks — upper ones clasping the stem. Involucre dilated at base. Flowers 

 yeL'ow. 



This introduced plant is quite common in some sections, growing 

 in gardens, waste grounds, and among rubbish. The juice is milky 

 and bitter. In England the leaves are often eaten with other culi- 

 nary herbs ; and the roots have sometimes been made into bread. 



Order 19. LOBELIADS — Lobeliace^. A small family of about 

 tliree hundred and seventy-five species, which are all more or less 

 poisonous. The Cardinal-flower {Lobelia cardinalis) is one of the 

 most beautiful native plants. 



73. Indian Tobacco — Eye Bright — Puke-weed — Lobelia inflata. Annual. Stem ten 

 to eighteen inches high, much branched, clothed with spreading hairs, and very tough. 

 Leaves one to three inches long, ovate or oblong in form. Flowers rather inconspicuous, 

 pale blue. Pod much inflated. 



A native plant, common in fields, and woods, and by the ro'ad- 

 sides. The plant is acrid and poisonous, but is used by so called 

 "botanical doctors." When employed in medicine it should be 

 used with great caution. It has been surmised by some persons 

 that this plant caused the ptyalism or "slabbering" of horses. This 



