Lactuca. COMPOSITiE. 443 



H— -1— Involucre more imbricated, commmh- tliree-fourtlis incli liiyli; outermost and intermediate 

 bracts ovate and ovate-lanceolate. 



L. Ludoviciana, DC. Glabrous, leafy to the open panicle, 2 to .5 feet high : leaves all 

 oblong and auriculate-clasping, 3 or 4 inclies long, siuuate-pinnatifid, somewjiat spinulosely 

 dentate, more or less bristly-ciliate, more or less hispidulous-setose on the midrib beneath : 

 peduncles squamose-bracteolate : flowers yellow : akeues oblong-oval, about equalled by the 

 filiform beak. — Prodr. vii. 141; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. Sonchus Liidovicianus, Nutt. Gen. ii. 

 125. Galathenium Ludovicianum, Nutt. Trans. Am. Phil. Soe. 1. c. — Moist or dry banks of 

 lakes and streams, Dakota, Nuthdl, Geijer. Iowa, Arthur. Black Hills of the Platte, Hai/- 

 den. Rio Limpio, S. W. Texas, Bi(]elow. 



§ 2. Lactucastrum. Akeiies lanceolate-oblong, flat, marginless, tapering 

 into a beak nearly like that of the preceding section, but not longer than the 

 breadth of the body : root perennial : involucre well imbricated, glabrous. 



Li. pulcliella, DC. A foot or two high, very glabrous, glaucescent, leafy up to the open 

 corymbiform panicle : leaves from linear-lanceolate to narrowly oblong, entire or ruucinate- 

 dentate, or some lower ones pinnatifid ; canlinc sessile, with ba.se not auriculate-clasping, dis- 

 posed to be vertical : branches of the loose panicle and peduncles squamose-bracteolate : 

 involucre two-thirds inch high, 1.5-20-fiowered ; its outer bracts ovate-lanceolate: flowers 

 bright blue or violet-purple : akeiies barely 2 lines long, striate-nervose ; the tip of short 

 beak soft and usually whitish. — Prodr. vii. 1.34; Gray, Bot. Calif, i. 442. L. integrifoUa, 

 Nutt. Gen. 1. c, not Bigel. Sonchus pulchellus, Pur,sh, Fl. ii. 502. S. Sibiricus, Richards. ; 

 Hook. PL i. 29.3, not L. Mulgedium pulchelkm, Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 497. M. pulchellum & 

 M. hetproph//lhim, Nutt. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. vii. 441. — Alluvial ground, Upper Michigan 

 to the Hudson's Bay region in lat. G0°, south to New Mexico, west to Brit. Columbia and 

 mountains of Nevada and adjacent California. 



§ o. MuLGEDiuiM. Akencs thickish, oblong, with some strong ribs and nerves, 

 contracted at summit into a stout short beak mainly of the texture of the body, 

 or into a mere (even obscure) neck under the dilated pappiferous apex : involucre, 

 (glabrous, lo-25-flowered) and habit of § Scariola, or more branching: glabrous 

 biennials or annuals, with or witliout some hairs or weak bristles on the mid- 

 rib and veins beneath, commonly with bluish flowers. — Here characterized for 

 the American species only of Malcjedium^ Cass. {Agathyrsus, Don), leaving the 

 older name, Cicerhita, Wallr., for the Old World species of less affinity to true 

 Lactuca. 



* Flowers li^^ht blue : pappus bright white : canliiie leaves on margined or winged petioles, not 

 claspiny; nor auriculate at insertion : heads loosely paniculate. 



L. Floridana, G.eutx. Stem 3 to 7 feet high: leaves deeply lyrate-pinnatifid ; lobes 

 sini])ly or (h)ubly dentate, lateral ones ovate, terminal dilated-deltoid and acuminate: invcn 

 lucre half-inch long: akenes acuminate into a manifest beak. — Gaertn. Fruct. ii. 262, name, 

 but the akenes figured, t. 158, probably from herb. Banks, are of L. leuroplui'a. Sonchus 

 F/oridanus, L. Spec. ii. 795; Willd. Spec. iii. 1520; Michx. Fl. ii. 85, in part; Ell. Sk. ii. 

 225. Mulfjedmm l/jratum, Cass. Diet, xxxiii. 297. M. Floridunnm, DC. I'rodr. vii. 249; 

 Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 498, excl. vars. Afjathijrsits Floridanus, Beck, Bot. 171. Galathenium 

 Floridanum, Kutt. Trans. Am. Pliil. Soc. I.e. 443. — Alluvial ground and along streams, 

 Penn. to Illinois, Florida, and Texas. 



L. acuminata, Gray. Leaves from ovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, acuminate at both 

 ends, or cauline not rarely sagittate or hastate, sliarply and sometimes doubly serrate, occa- 

 sionally some of tlie lower cleft at base, forming a pair of lateral lobes: involucre 5 lines 

 high : akenes beakless and with hardly a neck : otherwise nearly like the preceding. — Proc. 

 Am. Acad. xix. 73. L. villosa, Jacq. Hort. Schoenbr. iii. t. 307 ; Beck, Bot. 170, but the plant 

 mostly glabrous or nearly so. Sonchus acuminntus, Willd. Spec. iii. 1521 ; Ell. 1. c. S. 

 Floridanus, Michx. 1. c, in part. Hfid'/cdium acuminatum, DC. 1. c. ; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. — 

 Borders of woodlands, New York to liliuois and Florida. 



