WILD LETTUCE 39 



choked corners of fences and yards, alongside 

 gutters and roadways, a crevice in the pave- 

 ment, beaten paths, all are acceptable places 

 in which to flourish. But such poverty and 

 ill usage are by no means essential factors in 

 its success, for it also springs up in meadows, 

 gardens and cultivated fields. Still the power 

 to extract sufficient moisture and food from 

 compacted and sun-beaten earth, and thus to 

 overtop competitors, and in the less favorable 

 spots to grow where few plants could live, 

 place it in the first rank of noxious annual 

 weeds. 



Where it can maintain life, seed will be 

 formed, even when conditions are unfavor- 

 able for full development. Thus one will 

 often find in very dry soil plants only a few 

 inches high bearing a number of flower heads 

 and fully formed seeds. If by any accident 

 the upper part of the plant is removed, 

 branches at once start from below, and bear 

 leaves and flowers. 



The tenacious hold upon life which the wild 

 lettuce exhibits is remarkable. It may be 

 broken down, trod upon, cut off, and yet it 

 puts out new shoots from below and flourishes 

 again ; its roots may be in the driest gravel, 

 the most compact clay, or squeezed into the 

 crevices of walls or pavements where moisture 

 almost fails, and yet it grows. But all this 



