COMPOSITE. 125 



us that " the leaves of Chicory are boiled in potage or broths for sicke and feeble 

 persons, that have hot, weak, and feeble stomachs, to strengthen the same." The leaves 

 are sold in some of the London markets as a salad ; they are cultivated in the same way 

 as celery, and are earthed up so as to blanch the stems ; or the roots are planted in 

 sand, in alternate layers, with the tops outwards, in a cellar from which the light 

 is nearly excluded. The leaves thus deprived of light become long and white, and 

 are nearly destitute of that bitter flavour present when they are grown in the open air. 

 They are known by the name of Barhe de Ccqntcm, and find favour in this country, 

 though not so commonly as in France and Germany. 



Several agricultural writers have recommended Chicory as a fodder plant. Its 

 cultivation on the Continent with this view seems to be very successful. Near Paris 

 large crops are grown, and are much relished by sheep and cattle. The only drawback 

 to its cultivation seems to be the difficulty of converting the broad succulent leaves 

 into hay. Thirty-eight tons of fodder have been obtained from a single acre of Chicory 

 during the second and third years of its growth, and nearly twenty tons the first year, 

 by cutting it two or three times during the season. Objections to its use have, how- 

 ever, been strongly urged, and some farmers say that it gives an unpleasant taste to 

 the milk of cows feeding upon it. It will grow in almost any soil, and for use as a 

 salad may be easily cultivated in the kitchen-garden. The leaves have been used in 

 dyeing, and a patent was taken out some years ago for preparing them in the manner 

 of woad j but it does not appear to have been successfuh 



GUNUSXXIX.—IjA'PSANA, Linn, 



Anthodes several-flowered. Pericline cylindrical-ovoid; phyl- 

 laries in 2 series, the inner row of 8 or 10 equal phyllaries, the 

 outer row of several very minute adpressed ones. Clinanth naked. 

 Achenes fusiform - cylindric, 20-ribbed, attenuated at the base, 

 suddenly contracted at the apex, without any pappus or elevated 

 margin. 



Herbs, with lyrate - pinnatifid lower leaves ; and branched 

 stems with small stalked anthodes. Plorets pale-yellow. Achenes 

 caducous. 



The name of this genus of plants comes from the Greek word XuTrno (lapto), I suck, 

 in allusion, we suppose, to the reputed use of one of the species in curing soi*e nipples. 



SPECIES I.— LAPSANA COMMUNIS. Linn. 



Plate DCCLXXXVII. 



Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 1693. 



Eeich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Yol. XIX. Tab. MCCCLIII. Figs. 2, 3, 4. 



Lampsana communis, Z>. C. Prod. Yol. YII. p. 76, et Auct. Plur. 



Stem paniculately branched. Lower leaves lyrate-pinnatipar- 

 tite, with a very large terminal lobe, which is often cordate or 

 sub-cordate at the base, and a few small lateral lobes or some- 

 times merely an entire herbaceous strip along each side of the 



