LACTUCA.] COMPOSITE. 215 



yellow ; peduncles slender, bracteate ; invol. bracts few, linear, green and 

 purplish. Fruit ribbed and muricate. DISTKIB. Europe, W. Asia. 



38. TARAX'ACUM, Juss. DANDELION. 



Perennial, scapigerous herbs ; juice milky. Leaves all radical, entire or 

 phmatind. Heads solitary, yellow, scapes fistular leafless ; invol. bracts 

 imbricate ; inner equal, erect ; outer smaller, often recurved ; receptacle 

 flat, naked, pitted. Corollas all ligulate ; anther-cells not tailed ; style- 

 arms slender and upper part of style pubescent. Fruit compressed, ribbed, 

 muricate above the middle, abruptly beaked ; pappus-hairs in many series, 

 .simple, white. DISTKIB. All temp, and cold climates ; species, one vari- 

 able, or many. ETYM. -rapda-ffo), from its alterative eifects. 



1. T. officina'le, triggers; leaves toothed sinuate or runcinate-pinna- 

 tifid. Leontodon Taraxacum, L. 



Meadows and waste places ; fl. March-Oct. Glabrous or cottony at the 

 crown and involucre. Hoot long, stout, black. Leaves oblong- obovate or 

 spathulate, lobes usually toothed. Scapes 1 or more, ascending or erect. 

 Head ^-2 in. broad, bud erect ; involucre campanulate, outer bracts more 

 or less recurved, inner erect. Corollas bright yellow, outer often brown 

 on the back. Fruit brown, with a beak of equal length. DISTRIB. Arctic 

 and N. and S. temp, regions. A well-known medicine. 



VAR. 1, Dens-leo'nis, Desf. (sp.); leaves bright green runcinate-pinnatifid, 

 outer bracts recurved, fruit pale slightly muricate. The common form most 

 frequent in cultivated ground ; ascends to 2,700 ft. in the Highlands. VAR. 



2, erythrosper'mum, Andrz. (sp.) ; leaves dull green often glaucous runcinate- 

 pinn'atifid, outer bracts spreading, inner appendiculate below the tip, fruit 

 dark brown spinulose upwards. Dry places. VAR. 3, Iceviffa'tum, DC. (sp.) ; 

 leaves dull green pinnatifid, outer bracts erect broader, inner appendiculate 

 or gibbous below the tip, fruit as in VAR. 2, but paler. Sandy places. VAR. 

 4, palvdtre, DC. (sp. ) ; leaves sinuate-toothed or pinnatifid, lobes broad, 

 outer bracts ovate spreading or erect, inner simple at the tip, fruit pale 

 spinulose upwards. Moist moorlands ; ascends to 4,000ft. in the Highlands. 



39. ORE Pis, L. HAWK'S-BEARD. 



Branched herbs, juice milky. Leaves chiefly radical. Heads panicled or 

 corymbose, small, yellow or purplish ; invol. bracts many, linear, equal, 

 with a few smaller at their base ; receptacle flat, naked, pitted, margins of 

 the pits hairy or toothed. Corollas all ligulate ; anther-cells not tailed ; 

 style-arms slender and upper part of style pilose. Fruit terete, striate, 

 beak long, short or ; pappus-hairs in many series, slender, simple, white, 

 silky, brown in C. paludosa. DISTRIB. Europe, N. and W. Asia to the 

 Himalaya ; species about 90. ETYM. The classical name. 



SUB-GEN. 1. Ore 'pis proper. Peduncles slender ; buds erect. Fruit 

 not beaked. Pappus white, silky. 



1. C. vi'rens, L. ; glabrous below, lower leaves toothed runcinate or 

 lyrate, upper linear sagittate, inner bracts glabrous within as long as the 

 pappus. C. tectorum, Sm. not L. 

 Waste and cultivated ground, cottage roofs, &c., ascending to 1,000 ft. in the 



Highlands ; fl. June-Sept. Annual, very variable. Stems 1 or more, 1-3 ft. 



