248 composite, (composite family.) 
mostly simple, leafy and very hairy below , naked above and forming a 
long and narrow panicle; leaves oblong or obovate, nearly entire, 
hairy ; the slender peduncles and the 20 - 30-flowered involucre spar- 
ingiy glandular-bristly; achenia spindle-shaped, with a very taper sum¬ 
mit .— Dry sterile soil, common, especially southward. Aug. — Va¬ 
ries from l°-4° high; with small heads and almost beaked fruit, 
which well distinguishes the largest forms from No. 2, and the small¬ 
est naked-stemmed states from the next. 
5. II. venosilYll, L. (Rattlesnake-weed.) Stem or scape 
naked or with a single leaf smooth and slender, forking above into a 
spreading loose corymb ; root-leaves obovate or oblong, nearly entire, 
scarcely petioled, thin and pale, purplish and glaucous underneath 
(often hairy along the midrib) marked with purple veins; peduncles 
very slender; involucre 20-flowered; achenia linear , not tapering 
above. — Var. subcaulescens has the stem more or less leafy next 
the base.— Dry soil, and pine woods, common. — Plant 1°-2P high; 
the rays large for the size of the head. 
6. II. paniculatum, L. (Panicked Hawkweed.) Stem 
slender , leafy, diffusely branched , hairy below; leaves lanceolate, acute 
at both ends, slightly toothed, smooth ; heads (very small) in a loose 
panicle on slender diverging peduncles, 12 - 2 ft-jloicered; achenia 
short, not tapering at the summit. — Copses, common. Aug. 
nAbALUS, Cass. Rattlesnake-root. 
Heads few — many-flowered. Involucre cylindrical, of 5 to 14 
linear scales in a single row, and a few small bractlets at the base. 
Achenia linear-oblong, striate or grooved, not contracted at the 
apex. Pappus of copious straw-color or brownish roughish capil¬ 
lary bristles. Perennial herbs, with upright leafy stems arising 
from spindle-shaped (extremely bitter) tubers, very variable leaves, 
and racemose-panicled mostly nodding heads. Flowers greenish- 
white or cream-color, often tinged with purple. (Name probably 
from vafiha, a harp, in allusion to the lyrate leaves which these 
plants sometimes present.) Species of Prenanthes, L. 
* Involucre smooth or nearly so, 5 -12 -flowered. 
1- N. dibits, Hook. (White Lettuce. Rattlesnake-root*) 
Smooth and glaucous, tall; stem corymbose-panicled at the sumnutj 
eaves angulate or triangular-halbert-form, sinuate-toothed, or 
cleft; the uppermost oblong and undivided; involucre (purplish) oj 
aout o scales, 8 - 12 -flowered; pappus deep cinnamon-color. \ ar 
fcERPENTlRiA is a form with deeply divided leaves, their margins 
often rough-ciliate.-Copses in rich soil, common, especially north- 
