162 GAMOPETALOUS EXOGENS 



f f Pappus tawny ; florets pale blue, or ochroleucous. 



2. IH. leucopll&eiim, DO. Leaves irregularly pinnatifid, 



radical ones on long petioles, cauline sessile or contracted to winged 



petioles. 



Sonchus Floridanus. Ait. $ Fl. Cestr, ed. 2. p. 445. not of L. 



WHITISH-BROWN or GREY MULGEDIUM. 



Biennial. Stem 4 to 8 or 10 feet high, smoothish, paniculate at summit. Leaves 

 3 to 9 or 12 inches long, radical ones on petioles 2 to 5 or 6 inches in length ; stem- 

 leaves sessile, or the lower ones contracted to winged petioles. Heads of flowers 

 rather small, in an oblong terminal panicle ; involucre ovoid-oblong. 

 Hob. Fence-rows; thickets, &c.: frequent. FL Aug. Fr. Sept. 



233, SOUJKCHUS, L. 



[An ancient Greek name, of obscure meaning.] 



Heads many-flowered, tumid at base. Involucral scales more or less 

 imbricated. Akenes compressed, ribbed, not beaked ; pappus copi- 

 ous, of very white soft fine silky hairs. Smoothish and glaucous 

 herbs; florets yellow. 



1. S. oleraceus, L. Leaves runcinate-pinnatifid, dentate, sagittate 

 and clasping ; akenes transversely rugose. 



POTHERB SONCHUS. Common Sow-thistle. 



Annual. Stem 2 to 3 feet high, branched, fistular, tender, glandular-pilose above. 

 Leaves 3 to 6 or 8 inches long, the lower ones runcinate, on petioles 1 to 2 inches 

 in length, Cupper ones clasping. Heads of flowers in terminal and axillary cymose 

 panicles; peduncles thickish, clothed when young with a loose flocculent white to- 

 mentum ; involucre tumid and orbicular at base, abruptly contracted above to an 

 acumination. 

 Hub. Gardens, and lots. Nat. of Europe. Fl. Aug. Fr. Sept. 



2. S. dsper, Vill. Leaves lance-oblong, wavy, or slightly runcinate, 

 spinulose-dentate, auriculate-clasping ; akenes margined, 3-nerved 

 on each side, smooth. 



S. spinulosus. Bigel. $ Fl. Cestr, ed, 2. p. 445. 

 SHARP SONCHUS. 



Annual. Stem about 2 feet high, branched, slightly glandular-pilose above. 

 Leaves 2 to 6 or 8 inches long, with numerous and somewhat prickly teeth on the 

 margin, the lower ones sometimes pinnatifid, on petioles 1 to 2 inches in length, 

 upper ones with rounded auricles at base, clasping the stem. Heads of flowers in 

 terminal subumbellate panicles. 

 Hob. Banks of the Schuylkill: rare. Fl. Aug. Fr. Sept. 



Obs. This is supposed to be indigenous at least in the South ; 

 but it is unquestionably, I think, a stranger in Chester County. 



ORDER LIT. LOBELliCEAE. 



Herbs, often with milky juice ; leaves alternate, without stipules; flowers scattered 

 (i. e. not in heads) ; calyx-tube more or less adherent to the ovary; corotta tubular, 

 irregularly 5-lobed, mostly slit longitudinally nearly or quite to the base; stamens 

 5, free from the corolla, with the anthers completely, and the .filaments more or 

 leaa, united into a tube; seeds numerous, with fleshy albumen. 



