148 



THE INDIANA WEED BOOK. 



and they are protected from the fierce rays of the sun which can- 

 not beat directly down upon them. 



112. LACTUCA CANADENSIS L. Wild Lettuce. Tall Lettuce. (A. or B. 



N. 3.) 



Stem very leafy up to the flowers, branching above, glabrous, 3-12 

 feet high; leaves without prickles, the lower 6-12 inches long, sinuate 

 toothed or lobed, pale beneath; upper lanceolate, entire, sometimes clasp- 

 ing. Heads numerous, i inch broad, flowers about 20, pale yellow. Achene 

 oval, very flat, about as long as the hair-like beak; pappus white. (Fig. 

 108.) 



Common, especially in moist soil, along borders of woods, 

 thickets, fence-rows, roadsides and cultivated fields. July-Oct. 



While not an aggressive weed it is an 

 unsightly one and should be cleaned out 

 of fence-rows and roadsides. Associated 

 with it are several other species of wild 

 lettuce, most common of which are the 

 arrow-leaved lettuce (L. sagittifolia 

 Ell.) having the leaves all entire, the 

 flowers purplish-yellow, and the achene 

 longer than its beak; and the tall blue 

 lettuce (L. spicata, Lam.) with deeply 

 lobed leaves, blue flowers and brown 

 pappus. The latter occurs frequently 

 in moist soil along the borders of up- 

 land thickets and fence-rows and is 

 among the tallest of our annual herbs, one specimen taken in Vigo 

 County measuring 14 feet, 4 inches in height. Remedies: mowing 

 before the seeds ripen ; abandoning fences and cultivating the land 

 thus redeemed. 



113. HIEEACIUM SCABKUM Michx. Rough Hawkweed. (P. N. 3.) 



Stem stout, leafy, densely rough-hairy below and glandular-hairy 

 above, 1-4 feet high ; leaves oval or spoon-shaped, 2-4 inches long, sessile 

 or the lower short-stalked, finely toothed. Heads 2/3 inch broad, 30-50- 

 flowered, numerous in a rather broad panicle; bracts of involucre in one 

 row, linear, glandular. Achenes blackish, cylindrical, truncate; pappus a 

 single row of rather stiff brown bristles. 



Common in dry soil in open woods, thickets and recent clearings. 

 July-Sept. This and a half dozen other hawkweeds are found in 

 the State, occurring for the most part on the slopes and ridges of 

 high dry woodland pastures where the grass is thin. There in late 

 summer their ray flowers strive to outdazzle the sunlight with their 

 limpid yellow. Seldom noted except by the botanist they add their 



Fig. 108. (After Millspaugh.) 



