124 SYNGENESIS. ^C^UALIS. 



cies of iMctuea and Leontodon^ to this substance must be. 

 attributed the real or pretended efficacy of these plants 

 against the bites of poisonous reptiles. From this eircum- 

 stance arose the name of Scorzonera, a genus sufii- 

 ciently uOundant in the South of Furope, the name of 

 which is nothing- more than a corruption of the Spanish 

 word escorzo, a viper, tlie plants of this genus having been 

 popularly administered as remedies for the bite of that 

 animal, hence it Is called also " Viper's-grass." 



529. LACTUCA. L. (Lettuce.) 



Calix imbricated, cy'.indric, margin (of tlie 

 segments) membranaceous. Beceptacle naked. 

 JPappus simple, stipitate. Seed even. 



Vegetation partly similar to that of Sonchns- Flowers 

 Yellow, more rarely blue. 



Spzcies. l.L. elongata. L.longifolia? Mich. 2. *hirsuta. 

 Muhl. Catal. Lower part of the stem and leaves hirsutely 

 pilose, radical ones lyratej segments truncate, subden- 

 tate, the upper leaves partly runcinate-pinnatlfid; flowers 

 racemose, squamae subulate. Hab. In Pennsylvania. Pap- 

 pus slip itate. V. 8. In Herb. Muhl. o. graminifolia. 



4. * inttjrifolia. Leaves subamplexicaule, ovate-oblong, 

 allentn-e, smooth; panicle few-flowered, branchlets squa- 

 iQOse; flowers large and blue. L. oblongifolia. T. N. in Fras. 

 Catal. Sonchus pulchelhis. Ph. 2- p. 502. Hab. On the 



? grassy alluvial soils of the Missouri and the lesser streams, 

 I'om the Arikarees to the Mountains. Allied to Sonchus 

 sibiricusy but the pappus is stipitate. Obs. Root peren- 

 iual. Stem 1 and a half, to 2 feet high, dividing irregu- 

 larly above into a few -flowered, fastigiate panicle. Leaves 

 somewhat glaucous, very entire below, of an irregular, 

 elongated oblong form, stem leaves sometimes with a 

 single setaceous tooth at the base. Flowers about the 

 size, and nearly the colour, of those of Cichorium Intybxiii. 

 Calix cylindric. Flowermg in August and September. 



Excepting the above, almost exclusively an European 

 genus containing 22 species. Scarcely a natural group, a 

 mere section of Sonchus? The native country of the coui- 

 moi\ SaDad Lettuce (i. sativd) can now no longer be as- 

 certained. 



&30. SONCHUS. L. (Sow-Thistle.) 



Calix imbricated, ventricose, Jieceptach na- 

 ked. Fappus pilose, sessile. 



