COMPOSIT.E. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 303 



2. T. glaiicum, Nutt. Scape 1-2° high ; leaves linear to lanceolate, 

 entire to dentate or laciniate; head often pubescent or villous; achene long- 

 beaked. — Minn, to Neb. and southwestward. 



94. TARAXACUM, Haller. Dandelion. 



Head many-flowered, large, solitary on a slender hollow scape. Involucre 

 double, the outer of short scales ; the inner of long linear scales, erect in a 

 single row. Achenes oblong-ovate to fusiform, 4 - 5-ribbed, the ribs rough 

 ened, the apex prolonged into a very slender beak, bearing the copious soft 

 and white capillary pappus. — Perennials or biennials ; leaves radical, piunat- 

 ifid or ruuciuate ; flowers yellow. (Name from Tapdcrcno, to disquiet or dis- 

 order, in allusion to medicinal properties.) 



T. officixXle, Weber. (Common Dandelion.) Smooth, or at first 

 pubescent; outer involucre reflexed. (T. Dens-leouis, Z>es/'.) — Pastures and 

 fields everywhere. Indigenous forms occur northward and in the Rocky 

 Mountains. April -Sept. — After blossoming, the inner involucre closes, and 

 the slender beak elongates and raises up the pappus while the fruit is forming ; 

 the whole involucre is then reflexed, exposing to the wind the naked fruits, 

 with the pappus displayed in an open globular head. (Eu.) 



95. PYRRHOPAPPUS, DC. False Dandelion. 



Heads, etc., nearly as in Taraxacum, but the soft pappus reddish or rusty- 

 color, and surrounded at base by a soft-villous ring. — Mostly annual or biennial 

 herbs, scapose or often branching and leafy below. Heads solitary, terminat- 

 ing the naked summit of the stem or branches. Flowers deep yellow. (Name 

 composed of irv^pos, flame-colored, and irainros, pappus.) 



1. P. Carolinianus, DC. Annual or biennial, stem branching (1-2° 

 high); leaves oblong or lanceolate, entire, cut, or pinnatifid, the stem-leaves 

 partly clasping. — Sandy fields, from Maryland southward. April- July. 



2. P. scaposus, DC. Low, scapose, perennial by roundish tubers ; leaves 

 all radical, pinnatifid. — Prairies; Kan. to Tex. 



96. CHONDRILLA, Tourn. 



Heads few-flowered. Involucre cylindrical, of several narrow linear equal 

 scales, and a row of small bractlets at base. Achenes terete, several-ribbed, 

 smooth below, roughened at the summit by little scaly projections, from among 

 which springs an abrupt slender beak ; pappus of copious very fine and soft 

 capillary bristles, bright white. — Herbs of the Old World, with wand-like 

 branching stems, and small heads of yellow flowers. (A name of Dioscorides 

 for some plant which exudes a gum.) 



C. JtJNCEA, L. Biennial, bristly-hairy below, smooth above (1-3° high); 

 root-leaves runcinate; stem-leaves few and small, linear ; heads scattered on 

 nearly leafless branches, 6 - 8" long. — Fields and roadsides, abundant in Md. 

 and northern Va. Aug. (Adv. from Eu.) 



97. LACTUCA, Tourn. Lettuce. 



Heads several - many-flowered. Involucre cylindrical or in fruit conical; 

 scales imbricated in 2 or more. sets of unequal lengths. Achenes flat (obcom- 

 pressed, parallel to the scales), abruptly contracted into a beak, which is dilated 

 »t the apex, bearing a copious and fugacious very soft and white capillary pap- 



