Laduca. COMPOSIT.E. 443 



+- -)— Involucre more imbricnted, commonly three-fourths inch high; outermost and intermediate 

 bracts ovate and ovate-ianceohite. 



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

 oblung and auriculate-clas])ing, 3 or 4 iuclies long, sinuate-pinnatifid, somewhat si)inulusely 

 deutate, more or less bristly-ciliate, more or less hispidulous-setose ou the midril) beneath : 

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

 filiform beak. — Prodr. vii. 141; Torr. & Gray, I.e. Sonchus Ludnvicianus, Nutt. Gen. ii. 

 12.5. Guluthenium Ludnvirianum, Nutt. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 1. c. — Moist or drv banks of 

 lakes and streams, Dakota, Ntittull, Geijer. Iowa, Arthur. Black Hills of the PJatte, Ilaij- 

 den. Rio Limpio, S. AV. Texas, Bii/elow. 



§ 2. LactucXstrum. Akenes lanceolate-oblong, flat, marginless, taperin"- 

 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. pulchella, DC. A foot or two higli, very glabrous, glaucescent, leafy up to the open 

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

 dentate, or some lower ones pinnatitid ; caulinc sessile, with base not auriculate-clasping, dis- 

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

 involucre two-thirds inch high, 15-20-flowered ; its outer bracts ovate-lanceolate : flowers 

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

 beak soft and usually whitish. — Prodr. vii. 134; Gray, Bot. Calif, i. 442. L. integrifuUa, 

 Nutt. Gen. 1. c, not Bigel. Sonchus pulchellus, Pursh, Fl. ii. 502. S. Sihlricus, Kichards. ; 

 Hook. Fl. i. 293, not L. Mulgedinm pnlchdlnm, Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 497. M. pulchelltim & 

 M. heterophijUum, Nutt. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. vii. 441. — Alluvial ground. Upper Michigan 

 to the Hudson's Bay region in lat. 60°, south to New Mexico, west to Brit. Columbia and 

 mountains of Nevada and adjacent California. 



§ 3. MuLGEDiUM. Akenes 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 papuliferous apex : involucre 

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

 biennials or annuals, with or without some hairs or weak bristles on the mid- 

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

 the American species only of Mulgedium, Cass. (Affafhyrsiis, Don), leaving the 

 older name, Cicerhita, AVallr., for the Old World si^ecies of less affinity to true 

 Lactuca. 



* Flowers light blue : pappus bright white : cauline leaves on margined or winged petioles, not 

 clasping nor auriculate at insertion : heads loosely paniculate. 



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

 simply or doubly dentate, lateral ones ovate, terminal dilated-deltoid and acuminate : invo- 

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

 but the akenes figured, t. 158, probably from herl). Banks, are of L. Ieuroph<i>a. Sonchus 

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

 225. Mnlcjedtum lyratmn, Cass. Diet, xxxiii. 297. M. Florldannm, DC. Prodr. vii. 249 ; 

 Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 498, excl. vars. Afjath/jrsus Floridanus, Beck, Bot. 171. Galathenium 

 F/oridanum, 'Nutt. Tvuns. Am. Phil. Soc. I.e. 443. — Alluvial ground and along streams, 

 Penn. to Illinois, Florida, and Texas. 



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

 ends, or cauline not rarely sagittate or hastate, sharply and sometimes doitbly serrate, occa- 

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

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

 Am. Acad. xix. 73. L. ril/osa, Jacq. Hort. Schoenbr. iii. t. 367 ; Beck, Bot. 170, but the plant 

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

 Floridanus, Michx. 1. c, in part. Muhjedium acuminatum, DC. 1. c. ; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. — 

 Borders of woodlands, New York to Illinois and Florida. 



