SYNGENESIA~POLYGAM.-.¥.QU. Lcontodon. 349 



1. L. Taraxacum, Common Dandelion. 

 Outer scales of the calyx reflexed. Leaves runclnate, 

 toothed, smooth. 



L. Taraxacum. Lmn.Sp.lH.Wn. Wdld.v.3. \o4A. Fl.Br.S22. 



Engl. Bot. V. 8. /. 5 1 0. Curt, Loud. fuse. 1 . /. ^iS. Woodv. t. 3. 



Mill. Ulustr. t. GG. Hook. Scot. 227* Fl. Dan. t. 574. Drevea 



Bilderb. f. 4. Bull. Fr. t.2\7. Ehrli. PL Of. 438. 

 L. officinalis. With. 679. Hull \73. 

 Taraxacum n. oG. Hall. Hist. v. 1 . 23. 

 T. officinale. Sibth. 239. 

 Dens leonis. Raii Sijn. 170. Ger. Em. 290./. Matlh. Valgr. v. I . 



461./. Camer. Epit. 28G. / 

 D. leonis vulgi. Lob. Ic. 232. f. Moris, v. 3. 74. sect. 7. t. 8./ 1 . 

 Hieracium majus. Trag. Hist. 262. f. 

 Hedypnois. Fuchs. Hist. 680. f. Ic. 391 ./. Dalech. Hist. 564./. 



Bauh. Hist.v. 2. 1035./. 

 H. Taraxacum. .Scop. Cam. v. 2.99. 

 Common Dandelion. Petiv. H. Brit. t. 1 1./. 7. 

 /3. Dens leonis angustioribus foliis. Raii Syn. 171. 

 Narrow Dandelion. Petw. H. Brit. t. 11./ 8. 



In meadows, pastures, waste and cultivated ground, every where. 



/3. On dry grassy hills, or the tops of walls. At Matlock bath, Der- 

 byshire. 



Perennial. April — July. 



Root tap-shaped, very milky, externally black, difficult of extirpa- 

 tion. Lery I- e.v numerous, spreading, of a bright shining green, 

 quite smooth, tapering downwards, sessile, pinnatifid, with sharj), 

 unequally toothed lobes, pointing downward, or, in botanical 

 language, runcinate, of which these leaves are a perfect example. 

 They may also be called lion -toothed. Flower-stalks one or 

 more, rather longer than the leaves, erect, very smooth, brittle, 

 quite naked. Fl. I .} inch wide, of a uniform golden yellow, ex- 

 panded in the morning and in tine weather only. Outer scaler 

 of the calyx several, linear-oblong, loosely recurved and wavy. 

 As the stvds ripen, the inner calyx becomes rellexed close to the 

 stalk, leaving the light globe, near 2 inches in diameter, furnicd 

 by their radiating don-n, (piite exposed, lill dispersed by the 

 wind. 



By culture, and especially by blanciiing, tiiis herb, though. lilxcthe 

 garden Letluce and I'^lndive, originally fuliof bilter milk, bei-omes 

 sufliciently mild to be eaten in a salad, nor is its bitterness u\ a 

 disagreeable kind. It is reported to be powerlally diuretic. 



/3 is much smaller in every part than usual, the segments of tiie 

 leaves being deej) and very narrow, but tlie calyx scales retain 

 their due proportion and posit'on. Some botanists appear to 

 confoimd this variety with the following species, but the latter is 

 nalnrallv (|tiite a bog plant ; whereas Hu- Comnion Dandelion 



