COMPOSITAE COMPOSITE FAMILY 
WHITE LETTUCE 
Prenanthes alba L. 
The White Lettuce is common in rich woods from Maine 
to Saskatchewan and south to Georgia, Kentucky and Illinois. 
It is perennial and the entire plant is more or less covered with a 
thin coat of whitish wax. The 
stem is commonly purplish 
and 2-5 feet high. The leaves 
are thick and quite similar, 
the largest sometimes 8 inches 
long. 
The heads, hanging down- 
ward, are numerous and 8-15- 
flowered, blooming in August 
and September. The pur- 
plish involucre is cylindrical 
and composed of about 8 
principal bracts and several 
very small outer ones at the 
base. The receptacle is flat 
and naked. The flowers are 
greenish or yellowish white, 
fragrant, and all the corollas 
are tubular. The pappus is 
reddish brown and bristly. 
The Rattlesnake Root or 
Smooth White Lettuce, Prenanthes racemosa Michx., grows in marsh- 
es and other open wet places. It too is covered with a waxy bloom. 
The stem is smooth and 2-6 feet high. The slightly toothed leaves 
are oval or oblong-lanceolate; the lower taper into winged petioles, 
whereas the upper are partly clasping. The heads are very numerous 
in crowded clusters and do not droop much. The oblong-cylindric 
involucre is nearly one-half inch long, covered with coarse stiff hairs, 
and has 8-10 principal bracts with several smaller outer ones. The 
flowers are purplish and there are 12-15 in each head, blooming in 
August and September. The pappus is straw color. 
The Gall of the Earth or Tall Rattlesnake Root, Prenanthes trie 
foliata (Cass.) Fernald, is a smooth perennial 3-9 feet tall, nearly all 
of whose thinnish leaves are petioled, or the lower ternate. It grows 
in thickets and woods, principally in central and southern counties, 
and blooms from August to October. The smooth involucre is pale 
green or purplish, the flowers whitish or pale yellow, and the pappus 
is light brown. 
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