COMPOSITE. 



205 



60. CYNTHIA. Don. —Cynthia. 



(Supposed to be named from Mount Cynthus ; which was sacred to A.pollo 

 and Diana. Darlingt. Fl. Ces.) 



Heads many-flowered. Scales of the involucre numerous, in 

 one or two series. Receptacle naked, dotted. Achenia quad- 

 rangular, smoothish, not beaked. Pappus double; the outer 

 of numerous very short chaffy scales ; inner hair-like, deciduous. 



1. C. Virginica Don. : smooth and glaucous ; stem scape-like, often bifid 

 or trifid, few-leaved ; radical leaves petioled, lyrate, sinuate-dentate or pin- 

 natifid ; cauline lanceolate, clasping, nearly entire, smooth. C. amplexicaule 

 Beck Bot. 1st Ed. Krigia amplexicaulis NuU. 



Wet woods. N. Y. to Geor. W. to Miss. May — ^July. %. — Stems a foot or 

 more high, often 2 or 3 from one root, divided into long. slender branches, with a 

 clasping leaf at the forks. Heads solitary, at the extremities of the branches, 

 large, orange-yellow. Virginian Cynthia. 



2. C. Dandelion Linn. : scapes usuall^j several from the same root ; pri- 

 mary leaves spatulate-oblong ; the others linear-lanceolate, elongated, 

 mostly acute, either entire, repand-denticulate, remotely sinuatcrtoothed or 

 laciniate-subpinnatifid ; the triangular-lanceolate divaricate lobes 2 — 3 on 

 each si(l£ (Torr. <^ Gr.) C. Dandelion and Boscii D. C. Krigia Dan- 

 delion Nutt. Gen. 



Low grounds. Md. to Geor. W. to Texas. March — May. %. — Roots tube- 

 riferous. Scapes or stems 6 — 15 inches high, sometimes decumbent. Flowers 

 yellow. Dandelion-like Cynthia. 



61. OPORINIA. £)w^.— Hawkbit. 



(From the Greek on-wpii/dj, autumnal; in allusion to thejtime of flowering.) 



Heads many-flowered. Involucre obconic, in one series ; 

 scales lanceolate, acuminate, with numerous accessory ones at 

 the base. Receptacle naked. Achenia oblong, somewhat te- 

 rete, attenuated at both ends; transversely rugulose. Pappus 

 in one series, persistent, plumose, scarious and dilated at base. 



O. autumnale Don. : scape branched, scaly upwards ; leaves lanceolate, 

 toothed or pinnatifid, smoothish ; peduncles swollen beneath the somewhat 

 downy involucre. Apargia autumnalis Willd. 



Fields and road sides. N. S. July — Sept. %.. — Scape spreading, branched 

 into a few peduncles which are furnished with remote scales. Heads middle- 

 sized, bright yellow, resembling the Dandelion. Introduced from Europe. 



Autumnal Hawkhit 



62. LACTUCA. Tourn.—'Lettuce. 



(From the Latin lac, milk ; the plant giving out a milky juice.) 



Heads few- or many-flowered. Involucre cylindric ; scales 

 calyculate-imbricate, in 2 — 4 series ; the outer short. Recep- 

 taqj^ naked. Achenia flat, obcompressed, wingless, abruptly 



