compositjE. 222 



feet high. Flowers terminal, solitary, large, bluish purple This exotic i» 

 cultivated in gardens for the root, which is long, tapering and nutritious. 

 When properly prepared it has a mild, sweetish taste, which has been com- 

 pared to that of the oyster. Bienn. Salsify. Vegetable Oyster. 



Gl. LEO'NTODON. 

 Involucre imbricate, the outer scales very short ; receptacle 

 naked ; pappus plumose, persistent on the somewhat rostrate 

 achenia. 



Gr. Xicov, a lion, and ohovi, a tooth ; in reference to the deep, tooth-like 

 divisions of the leaves. Acaulescent herbs, with white flowers, many in a 

 head. 



L. AUTLIMNA'LIS. L. Apargia autumnalis. Willd. 



Scape branching; peduncles scaly; /rares lanceolate, dcntatepinnatifid, 

 smoothish. A European plant, naturalized and common in the eastern parts 

 of N. England, growing in grass-lands and by roadsides. The flower resem- 

 bles those of the dandelion (Taxaxacum). Root large, abrupt. Scape round, 

 striate, hollow, decumbent at base, G— 18 inches high, with a fev/ branches 

 and scattered scales. Leaves all radical spreading, G inches long, with deep, 

 round sinuses, and covered with remote hairs. Flowers an inch in diameter, 

 yellow, appearing from July to Nov. Jlutumnal Hawkweed. 



62. LACTU'CA. 

 Involucre imbricate, cylindric, the scales in 2 or 3 rows, 

 the outer shortest; receptacle naked; pappus simple,crown- 

 ine: tlie lonjr beak of the achenia. 



Lat. Inc, milk ; from the milky juice, in which all the species abound. 

 Heads few-flowered. Pappus copious, soft and white. 



1. L. ELONGA'TA. 



Leaves smooth and pale beneath, lower ones amplexicaul, runcinate, upper 

 lanceolate, entire, sessile; keuds racemose-paniculate. A common, rank 

 plant, irrowing in hedges, thickets, &c., where the soil is rich and damp. 

 Stem hollow, stout, 3— G feet high, often purple, bearing a leafless, elongated, 

 sometimes corymbose-spreading panicle of numerous heads of flowers. Leaves 

 very variable, the lower G — 12 inches long, commonly deeply runcinate, often 

 narrow-lanceolate, with a few narrow-lanceolate divisions. Corollas yellow. 

 Achenia oblong, compressed, about the length of the beak. July, Aug. 



H'ild Lettuce. Trumpet MUlnceed. 



B integrifnlia (L. integrifolia. Bic.) ; leaves nearly all undivided, lanceolate, 

 sessile, the lowest often sagittate at base. 



y. sanguinurca (L. sanguinarea. Bw) ; leaves runcinate, amplexicaul. 

 mostly pubescent, glaucous beneath ; j?o?fc»-5 purple. Stem 2 — 3 feet high, 

 often "purple (but this character is not peculiar to this variety). 



2- L. SATIVA. — ,S7c7n corymbose ; /(?«7;fs suborbicular, the cauline ones 

 cordate. The varieties of this exotic are every where well known and 

 cultivated for salad. It is annual, with very smooth, yellowish green foliage, 

 which in one vnriety (capUata) is so abundant as to form heads like the 

 cabbage. Heads numerous, small, with yellowish corollas. The milky juice 

 contains opium, and if this salad be eaten too freely, unpleasant narcotic 

 .effects are the consequence. Garden Lettuce. 



