HIeRACIUM. LXXV. COMPOSITZ. 359 
77. LACTUCA. 
Lat. lac, milk ; from the milky juice in which all the species abound. 
1. L. EvoncATa. Wild Lettuce. Trumpet Milkweed. 
Lws. smooth and pale beneath, lower ones amplexicaul, runcinate, upper 
lanceolate, entire, sessile; Ads. racemose-paniculate——A common, rank plant, 
growing in hedges, thickets, &c., where the soil is rich and damp. Stem hol- 
low, stout, 3—6f high, often purple, bearing a leafless, elongated, sometimes co- 
rymbose-spreading panicle of numerous heads of flowers. Leaves very varia- 
ble, the lower 6—12’ long, commonly deeply runcinate, often narrow-lanceolate, 
with a few narrow-lanceolate divisions. Corollas yellow. Achenia oblong, 
compressed, about the length of the beak. July, Aug. 
GB. integrifolia (L. integrifolia. Bw.) Lvs. nearly all undivided, lanceolate, 
sessile, the lowest often sagittate at base. 
. sanguinarea (L. sanguinarea. Bw.) ws. runcinate, amplexicaul, mostly 
pubescent, glaucous beneath; fis. purple—Stem 2—3f high, often purple (but 
this character is not peculiar to this variety). “i 
2. L. sativa. Garden Lettuce —VSt. corymbose ; lvs. suborbicular, the cauline 
ones cordate. The varieties of this exotic are every where well known and 
cultivated for salad. Itis annual, with very smooth, yellowish-green foliage, 
which in one variety (capitata) is so abundant as to form heads like the cab- 
bage. Heads numerous, small, with yellowish corollas. ‘The milky juice con- 
tains opium, and if this salad be eaten too freely, unpleasant narcotic effects are 
the consequence. + 
78. MULGEDIUM. Cass. 
Lat. mulgeo to milk; in allusion to the lactescent qualities of the plants. 
Inyolucre somewhat double, the outer series of scales short and 
imbricated ; receptacle naked, faveolate ; pappus copious, soft, capil- 
lary, crowning the short-beaked achenia.—Lwvs. mostly spinulose. ds. 
with many yellow or cyanie flowers. 
1. M. acuminitum. DC. (Sonchus acuminatus. Willd.) 
Radical Ivs. subruncinate ; cauline ones ovate, acuminate, petiolate, den- 
tate; ids. loosely paniculate, on somewhat scaly peduncles——In hedges and 
thickets, N. Y. to Ia.! and S. States. A smooth plant, 3—6f high, with the | 
stem often purplish. Leaves 3—6’ long, the lower ones often deltoid-hastate or 
truncate at the base, sinuate-denticulate, narrowed at base into a winged pe- 
tiole. Heads small. Peduncles with a few scale-like bracteoles. Scales dark 
purple, with blue corollas. Pappus white, on the short-beaked, ovate-acumi- 
nate achenia. Aug. Sept. 
2. M. nevcopHzum. DC. (Sonchus floridanus. Adé. Agathyrsus leuco- 
pheus. Don.)—Lwvs. numerous, lyrate-runcinate, coarsely dentate; hds. 
paniculate, on squamose-bracteate peduncles.—Moist thickets, N. and W. 
States. A tall, leafy plant, nearly smooth. Stem 4—10f high. Leaves 5—12’ 
long, irregularly divided in a runcinate or pinnatifid manner, the segments re- 
and-toothed, the radical ones on long stalks, the upper ones sessile, often un- 
ivided. Heads small, with pale blue or yellowish corollas, a tawny-white 
pappus, and arranged in a long, slender panicle. Aug. Sept. 
3. M. Fioripinum. DC. (Agathyrsus. Beck. Sonchus. Linn.) 
Glabrous; st. erect, paniculate above, purple or giaucous; cauline ls. 
runcinately pinnate-parted, segments few, sinuate-dentate, upper ones triangu- 
lar, acute or acuminate ; panicle loose, erect, compound.— Western! and South- 
ern States, hedges and waste grounds. A handsome plant with a terminal pani- 
cle of blue flowers. Stem 3—5f high. Leaves 4—8’ long, variable in form. 
Heads small. Rays expanding 9”. Jil.—Sept. 
79. HIERACIUM. Tourn: 
Gr. ispaz, a hawk; supposed to strengthen the vision of birds of prey. 
Involucre more or less imbricated, ovoid, many-flowered ; recepta- 
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