COMPOUND FLOWEES 129 



the stem, and heart-shaped ; root perennial. This plant is clearly distinguished 

 by its large heart-shaped involucre. Its leaves are glossy green, their surface, 

 like the stem, being dotted over with many white warty protuberances, from 

 which the prickles spring. The juice is milky, and the leaves, when young, 

 form a good vegetable, being either boiled, or, in some countries, pickled. 

 The French call the plant Langue de Boeuf. The shining seeds are a beautiful 

 object for the microscope. Its English range is from Durham southward. 

 Dr. Grcorge Johnston remarks, that he found the Ox-tongue at Berwick, by 

 the Pier Koad, and it extends thence to Haddington. It occurs but rarely in 

 Ireland, about Dublin. The stem of this plant is two or three feet high, and 

 much branched. Its small yellow heads appear from June to September. 

 It grows chiefly on dry banks and field borders, and is not very generally 

 distributed, though by no means uncommon in Kent, Devonshire, and 

 some other counties. Sir J. D. Hooker retains this in the Linnean genus 

 Ficris. 



3. PiCRis (Ficris). 



Hawkweed Picris (F. hieraciukles). — Stem branched, and, as well as 

 the leaves, roi;gh with forked and hooked bristles ; upper leaves somewhat 

 clasping, lance-shaped, and toothed ; flower-stalks with numerous scale-like 

 bracts ; flower-heads corymbose, outer bracts of the involucre narrow and lax ; 

 root perennial. This is rather a slender plant, two or three feet in height, 

 its handsome yellow flowers expanding in June and July. It is very common 

 on the borders of fields, road-sides, and sea-cliifs as far north as Roxburgh ; 

 also in the Channel Islands. It is very bitter, hence its name of Ficris. The 

 French also call it Ficride ; the Germans, Bitterkrmd ; and the Dutch, Bitter- 

 kruid. 



4. Hawk-bit (Apdrgia). 



1. Rough Hawk-bit (A. hispida). — Leaves all from the root, pinnatifid, 

 with the lobes pointing backward, rough with forked bristles ; stalk swollen 

 at top, bearing a single head ; pappus with an outer row of bristles ; root 

 perennial. This plant, which opens its yellow flowers from June to September, 

 is very common on pastures and meadows, and spangles over the short 

 grasses of the gravelly soils — 



" Where the furze has leave to wreathe 

 Its dark prickles o'er the heath ; 

 Where the grey-grown hawthorns spread 

 Foliaged houses o'er one's head, 

 By the sporting axe untouch'd ; 

 AVhere the oak-tree gnarl'd and notch'd 

 Lifts its deep-moss'd furrow'd side 

 In Nature's grandeur — Nature's pride." 



2. Autumnal Hawk-bit (A. autummilis). — Root-leaves linear, lan- 

 ceolate, toothed, or pinnatifid, nearly smooth ; stalk branched, scaly, and 

 thickened above ; involucre smooth or hairy : a variety occurs with smooth 

 leaves, stalk mostly simple, and the involucre shaggy, with greenish-black 

 hairs ; and another with hairy leaves, branched stalk, and involucre with 

 dark hairs ; root perennial. This plant is not unfrequent in meadows and 

 pastures, its deep yellow flowers expanding in August and September. They 



II.— 17 



