HiERACiUM. LXXV. composite:. 359 



77. LACTOCA. 



Lat. lac, milk ; from Die milky juice in which ull the species abound. 

 1. L. ELONGATA. Wi/d LcUurc. Triunptt JMilkireed. 



Lis. smooth and pale beneath, lower ones amplexicaul, runcinate, upper 

 lolate, entire, sessile; hds. racemose-paniculate. — A common, rank plant, 

 growing in heilges, thickets, &c., wliere the soil is rich and damp. Stem hol- 



low, stout, 3 — ()l high, often purple, bciiring a leafless, elongated, sometimes co- 

 rymbose-spreading panicle of numerous heads of llowers. Leaves very varia- 

 ble, the lower G — 12' long, commonly deeply runcinate, often narrow-lanceolate, 

 -vrith a lew narrow-lanceolate divisions. Corollas yellow. Achenia oblong, 

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



0. inlcirrif(dia (L. integrifolia. Bw.) Lis. nearly all undivided, lanceolate, 

 sessile, the lowest often sagittate atba.se. 



y. samruuiarca (L. sanguinarea. Bw.) Lis. runcinate, amplexicaul, mostly 

 pubescent, glaucous beneath ; /s. purple. — Stem 2 — 3f high, often purple (but 

 this character is not peculiar to this variety). 



2. L. SATivA. Garden Lettuce. — St. corymbose ; lis. 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 variety (capitata) is so abundant as to form heads like the cab- 

 bage. Heads numerous, small, with yellowish corollas. The milky juice con- 

 tains opium, and if this salad be eaten too freely, unpleasant narcotic effects axe 

 the consequence. -^ 



78. MULGEDIUM. Cass. 



Lat. mulgeo to milk ; in allusion to the lactescent qualities of the plants. 



Involucre somewliat double, the outer series of scales short and 

 imbricated : receptacle naked, faveolate ; pappus copious, soft, capil- 

 lary, crowning the short-beaked achenia. — Lvs. mostly spinulose. Hds. 

 loith many yelloiu or cyanic Jioioers. ■ 



1. M. ACUMINATUM. DC. (Souchus acumiuatus. Willd.) 



Radical lis. subruncinate ; cauline oties ovate, acuminate, petiolate, den- 

 tate ; hds. loosely paniculate, on somewhat scaly peduncles. — In hedges and 

 thickets, N. Y. to la. 1 and S. States. A smooth plant, 3— 6f high, with the 

 stem often purplish. Leaves 3 — 6' long, the lower ones often deltoid-hastate or 

 trimcate at the base, sinuate-denticulate, narrowed at base into a winged pe- 

 tiole. Heads small. Peduncles with a few scale-like bracteoles. Scales dark 

 purple, with blue corollas. Pappus white, on the short-beaked, ovate-acumi- 

 nate achenia, Aug. Sept. 



2. M. LEucoPHJEUM. DC. (Sonchus floridanus. Ait. Agathyrsus leuco- 

 phocus. Don?) — Lis. numerous, lyrate-runcinate, coarsely dentate ; hds. 



paniculate, on squamose-bracteate peduncles. — Moist thickets, N. and W. 

 States. A tall, leafy plant, nearly smooth. Stem 4 — lOf high. Leaves 5 — 12' 

 long, irregularly divided in a runcinate or pinnatifid manner, the segments re- 

 pand-toothed, the radical ones on long stalks, the upper ones .sessile, often un- 

 divided. Heads small, with pale blue or yellowish corollas, a tawm3'-white 

 pappus, and arranged in a long, slender panicle. Aug. Sept. 



3. M. Floridaxum. DC. (Agathyrsus. Beck. Sonchus. Linn.) 

 Glabrous; 5/.. erect, paniculate above, purple or glaucous; cauVme lvs. 



rimcinately pinnate-parted, segments few, sinuate-dentate, upper ones triangu- 

 lar, acute or acuminate; panicle]oose, erect, compound. — Western! and South- 

 ern States, hedges and waste groimds. A handsome plant with a terminal pani- 

 cle of blue flowers. Stem 3 — 5f high. Leaves 4 — 8' long, variable in form. 

 Heads small. Rays expanding 9". Jl. — Sept. 



79. HIERACIUM. Toiun. 



Gt. upa^, a hawk; supposed to strcn^hen the vision of birds of prey. 



Involucre more or less imbricated, ovoid, many-flowered ; recepta- 

 31 



