Scorzonera COMPOSITAE Sonchus 



52. Scorzonera Linn. WiWM (Ya Ts'ung Shu; Crow-onion Genus) 



Deep rooted perennial herbs; glabrous or the stems appressed-tomentose: lvs. 

 lanceolate or linear, rarely elliptic, in ours entire: heads large; involucres 2-5 cm. 

 high; their bracts evenly imbricated in several series; fls. in ours yellow: frs. in ours 

 pale, beakless; pappus setae stout, elongate, long-plumose, the plumes cobwebby and 

 interlaced. About 100 species, in Eurasia; 6-8 in China. (French: scorzon, serpent; 

 S. hispanica was used against snake bite.) 



Key to the Species 



Caudex not fibrous at apex: stems 2.5-6 dm. high, appressed-tomentose 



at apex: cauline lvs. well developed; If. margins not undulate 1. S. albicaulis 



Caudex fibrous at apex: stems 0.2-3 dm. high, glabrous: cauline lvs. 



much reduced, often bract-like; If. margins undulate 2. S. austriaca 



1. Scorzonera albicaulis Bunge (S. macrosperma Turcz.) gf-f^ (Yeh Ts'ung Chii; 

 Wild-onion Chrysanthemum) (DC.P.7:117;Fa.B.5:98). Erect herb, to lm.; fls. 

 yellow, V. Northeastern Asia; locally in An., Ku. Fields and thickets. 



2. Scorzonera austriaca Willd. (Le.F. 2:792). Herb; fls. yellow, IV. Eurasia; locally 

 in An., Ku. Fields and thickets. 



53. Taraxacum Ludwig Dandelion fj^^M (P'u Kung Ying Shu) 

 Perennial acaulescent herbs: peduncles hollow, bearing a single large many-fid. 



head; bracts of the involucre in 2 series: frs. long, beaked, variously tuberculate. 

 Species 60 or more (depending on the species concept employed), in the northern 

 hemisphere and southern South America; about 15 described from China. (Name 

 modified from the Arabic Tharakhchakon.) 



The prevalence of parthenogenetic reproduction in this genus has produced a vast number 

 of constant, self-perpetuating forms separated from each other by minute differences. These 

 are described as species by the systematists of northern Europe and Japan with the result that 

 in these regions a large number of species has been described. No doubt the Chinese 

 population of Taraxacum could be similarly treated, but the wiser course for the present is 

 to recognize relatively few polymorphic species, pending a complete revision of the genus as a 

 whole, from the cytogenetic as well as the systematic standpoint. 



1 . Taraxacum mongolicum Hand. Maz. ,1|j5V <)'i (P'u Kung Ying) (Go. A. 2 : 159). Stemless 

 herb; fls. yellow, all seasons. China; locally in Ku. Lawns and waste places. 

 Fig. 391. 



This species is the common dandelion of eastern and northern China. It differs from T. 

 vulgare Lam. (T. officinale Weber) of Europe and America chiefly in the white-woolly apex of 

 its scapes, its prominently corniculate inner bracts, and its achenes, which are tuberculate 

 throughout, while those of T. vulgare are smooth below. The latter species has not been re- 

 ported from China. 



54. Sonchus Linn. Sow-Thistle ^^M (K'u Ts'ai Shu) 

 Herbs with lfy. stems and alternate pinnatifid lvs.: infl. cymose: involucres broad. 

 very many-fid.; the bracts evenly imbricate: fls. yellow: frs. flattened, sometimes 

 4-angled, not beaked; pappus of two types of bristles, some straight, stiff, and relatively 



416 



