212 COMPOSITE. [TRAGOPOGOX. 



34. TRAGOPO GON, L. 



Erect, usually simple glabrous herbs, with biennial or perennial tup- 

 roots ; juice milky. Leaves alternate, entire, amplexicaul. Heads solitary, 

 yellow or purple ; invol. bracts 1-seriatc, usually exceeding the flmvi-rs. 

 narrow, nearly equal, connate at the base ; receptacle convex, naked or 

 fimbriate. Corollas all ligulate ; anther-cells tailed ; upper part of style 

 pilose, arms slender obtuse. Fruit slender, muricate, beak long ; pappus- 

 hairs in many series, rigid, feathery with naked tips, the hairs of the bristles 

 horizontal and interlacing. DISTKIB. Europe, N. Africa, W. Asia ; species 

 about 20. ETYM. rpdyos and irt&yuy, goafs-beard. 



1. T. praten'si*, L. ; leaf-sheaths much dilated, scape scarcely 

 thickened upwards, flowers yellow. Goafs-beard. 



Meadows, pastures, and waste places, from Lanark and Moray southwards ; 

 rare in Scotland and Ireland ; fl. June-July. Glabrous or slightly cottony 

 on the involucre, glaucous. Stem, 1-2 ft., stout, erect, simple or sparingly 

 branched above. Leaves flexuous, slender, gradually contracted upwards 

 from above the dilated sheath, linear towards the tip ; radical with shorter 

 sheaths, keeled, channelled above, midrib tubular. Heads A-2in. diam., 

 yellow ; involucre obconic, bracts about 8, 2-seriate, flat, often streaked with 

 brown, fruit variable in roughness ; beak about as long as the body. 

 DISTRIB. Europe, W. Siberia. Root edible. Flowers close at noon. 

 VAR. 1, praten'sis proper ; flowers as long as the invol. bracts. VAR. 2, mi' nor, 

 Fries (sp.) ; flowers i as long as the invol. bracts. The most common form. 

 VAR. 3, grandiflorus, Syme ; flowers much longer than the invol. bracts. 

 Kent and Surrey, rare. 



T. PORRIFO'LIUS, L. ; leaf-sheaths slightly dilated, peduncle much 

 thickened upwards, flowers purple. Salsify. 



Wet meadows, rare and local, nowhere wild ; a denizen, Watson ; May-June. 

 Habit and chief characters of T. pratetuis, but usually larger, with more 

 muricate fruits ; ligule as long or shorter (var. paririfloi-iis, Syme) than the 

 invol. bracts. DISTRIB. N. Europe, Siberia. Occasionally cultivated in 

 England, abundantly on the Continent. 



33. PI CRIS, L. 



Erect, branched, hispid herbs ; juice milky. Leaves alternate, en- 

 tire or sinuate-toothed. Heads corymbose, yellow ; invol. bracts many, 

 unequal, outer spreading ; receptacle flat, naked, pitted. Flowers all 

 ligulate ; anther-cells shortly-tailed ; upper part of style and its slender 

 obtuse arms pilose. Fruit curved, grooved, transversely rugose, not 

 beaked ; pappus-hairs 2-seriate, deciduous, feathery, connate below, outer 

 fewer slender, inner broader at the base, plumose. DISTRIB. Europe, 

 temp. Asia ; species about 20. ETYM. irtKpts, from its bitterness. 



1. P. hieracioi des, L. ; leaves obovate-lanceolate, upper i-amplexicaul. 

 Borders of fields and waste places in a stiff soil, chiefly in S. and E. of England, 

 from Durham southwards ; absent from Ireland ; fl. July-Sept. Hispid with 

 stiff" straight curled or hooked hairs. Stem 2-3 ft., stout, corymbosely 

 branched. Leaves 4-12 in., narrow, lower petioled, upper ses-il> . JI,<nls 

 1 in. diam., peduncles bracteate ; involucre subcampanulate ; outer bracts 



