LONG-ROOTED CAT'S EAR 



feature is the long root, which is white, simple, and milky, hence the 

 English and second Latin name. The radical leaves are prostrate, 

 lying on the ground in a rosette, flat, oblong, and the leaf seg- 

 ments are turned back, rough, toothed, hairy, the hairs originating 

 from minute points. 



The flowerheads are yellow, borne on branched scapes, which 

 are thickened just below the flowerheads, and nearly erect. The 

 whorl of leaf-like organs is shorter than the florets, which are over- 

 lapping, equal, and numerous, 

 with ray florets, with five teeth, 

 with yellow anthers forming a 

 tube. The flower-stalks bear 

 small scales near the top, and are 

 often flattened along the sides. 



The plant is about 18 in. in 

 height. The flowers can be 

 found in June up till September. 

 It is perennial, increased by 

 division of the root, 



The flowerhead is yellow, 

 large, and conspicuous, and is 

 thus visited by numerous insects. 

 The florets bear both stamens 

 and carpels, with both ray and 

 disk florets, the petals forming 

 a tube which is hairy at the top, 

 preventing the entrance of rain. 

 The stamens are capillary, and 

 the anthers unite to form a tube, 

 as in the majority of Composites. 



The style is threadlike and as long as the stamens. The two stigmas 

 are recurved to prevent self-pollination when insect visits are possible. 

 Amongst the visitors are Honey Bee, Bombiis, Dasvpoda, Panurgus, 

 Colletes, Rhop kites, Andrena, Halictus, Sphecodes, Dip ky sis; Diptera 

 (Syrphidse, Eristalis, Pipiza, Conopidae, Sicus, Muscidae, Demotions). 



The fruits are provided with pappus, and are dispersed by wind. 



The Long-rooted Cat's Ear is largely a clay-loving plant, growing 

 on clay soil and also on sand soil. 



The stems of the Cat's Ear are liable to be galled by Aulax 

 hypoclueridis. A beetle, Cryptocephalus sericeus, a Homopterous insect 

 Aphalara picta, and a fly, Tephritis vespertina, feed on it. 



Photo. W. E. Mayes 



LONG-ROOTED CAT'S EAR (Hypochceris 

 radical a, L.) 



