SYNGENESlA~POLYGAMIA-/EQU. Luctuca. :i45 



SfigDi. 2, revolute. Seed-vessel none, except the unaltered 

 closed calyx. Seed obovate, furrowed, rough ish, corn- 

 pressed. Doxain capillary, very slender, elevated on a stalk 

 about its own length. Recept. narrow, naked, dotted. 

 Milky, fetid, bitter, upright, biennial or annual herbs^ with 

 so;.d, leafy stems. Leaves undivided or pinnatifid, some- 

 times toothed, or prickly. Fl. numerous, panicled, yel- 

 low, pale, and rather small. L. j)ere)uiis lias blue and 

 rather largejloicers, with deeply pinnatifid smooth leaves. 



1 . L. virosa. Strong-scented Letttice. 

 Leaves horizontal, finely toothed ; the keel prickly. 



L, virosa. Linn. Sp. PI. 1119. H'dUl. v. 3. 1520". Fl. Br. SID. 



Engl. Bot. V. 28. t. \ 957. IVoodv. supjd t. 250. Hoolc. Scot. 227. 



Ehrh.Pl OJf. 137. 

 L. n. 15. Hull. Hist. v. I. 7. 



L. sylvestris major, odore opii. Raii S>jn.\Gl . Ger. Em.'SOO.f. 

 L. sylvestris, opii odore, vehementer soporifcro et viroso. Moris. 



r. 3. 58. sec<. 7.^.2./. 16. 

 L. sylvestris, lato folio, succo viroso. Bauh. Hist. v. 1. 1U02./. 

 L. sylvestris vera. Dalech. Hist. 547./. 2. 

 L. agrestis. Cord. Hist. 157. 2./. Lob. Ic. 24 1./, 

 Endivia. Trag. Hist. 2(18./. 

 Thesion. Dalech. Hist. 5G4./. 



Broad, also Cut, Lettuce. Petiv. H. Brit. t. 15./. 1 , 2. 

 jo. Lactuca sylvestris, folio non laciniato. Raii Si/n. eJ. 2. 70. 



ed.3. 162. 

 L, sylvestris n. 2. Ger. Em. SOOj nof. 



About hedges, old walls, and the borders of fields, on a chalky 

 soil, not uncommon. 



Biennial. .August, September. 



Whole herb abounding with an acrid fetid milky juice, having the 

 smell and narcotic properties of Opium. This juice springs out 

 suddenly, in large drops, on the slightest touch, from the cfilijx 

 and tender leaves, evincing a considerable degree of irritability 

 in the plant. The rooi is tap-shaped. Stem solitary, 2 or 3 feet 

 high, erect, round, smooth, sparingly leafy, scarcely branched ; 

 panicled at the top ; a little prickly below. Leaves horizontal, 

 nearly smooth, finely toothed ; radical ones numerous, obovate, 

 undivided, depressed; those of the stem smaller, often lobed; 

 arrow-shaped and clasping at their base ; the mid-rib of all more 

 or less beset underneath with prominent prickles, such as often 

 occur on the margin also. Fl. numerous, panicled, with abun- 

 dance of small, heart-shaped, pointed bracteas. Cal//x -scales 

 downy at tlic tip, destitute of any keel or ribs. Cor. small, light 

 yellow. Seed-down rough. 



