COMPOSITif:. (COMPOSITK lAMILY.) 303 



2. T. gladcum, Nutt. Scape 1 - 2° high ; leaves linear to lanceolate, 

 entire to dcntaie or laciniate ; head often pubescent or villous; acheue long- 

 beaked. — Minn, to Neb. and southwestward. 



94. TARAXACUM, Haller. Dam.ki.ion. 



Head many-flowered, large, solitary on a slender hollow scape. Involucre 

 double, the outer of short scales; the inner of long linear scales, erect in a 

 single row. Achencs oblong-ovate to fusiform, 4 - 5-ribbed, the ribs rough- 

 ened, the apex prolonged into a very slender l)eak, bearing the copious soft 

 and white capillary papjius. — Perennials or biennials; leaves radical, j>innat- 

 ifid or ruiiciiialc ; flowci's yellow. (Name from raplaff^, to disijuitt or dis- 

 order, in allusion to medicinal propeities.) 



T. officinXle, Weber. (Com.mo.v Dandelion.) Smooth, or at first 

 pubescent; outer involucre reflexed. (T. Deus-leonis, /■'es/'.) — Pastures and 

 fields everywhere. Indigenous forms occur northward and in the Kocky 

 Mountains. April -Sept. — After blossoming, the inner involucre closes, and 

 the slender beak elongates and raises up the pappus while the fruit is forming ; 

 the whole involucre is then refiexe<l, exposing to the wind the naked fruits, 

 with the pappus displayed in an ojien glol)ular head. (Ku.) 



95. PYRRHOPAPPUS, DC. False Dandelion. 



Heads, etc., nearly as in Taraxacum, hut the soft pappus reddish or rusty- 

 color, and surrounded at base hy a soft-villous ring. — Mo.stly annual or biennial 

 herbs, scapose or often branching and leafy below. Heads solitary, terminat- 

 ing the naked summit of the stem or branches. Flowers deep yellow. (Name 

 composed of nvp^os, ^fla me-colored , and irainros, paj)j>iis.) 



1. P. Caroliniinus, DC. Annual or biennial, stem branehing (1-2° 

 high); leaves oblong or lanceolate, entire, cut, or pinnatitid, the stem-leaves 

 partly clasping. — Sandy fields, from Maryland southward. April- July. 



2. P. scap6sus, DC. Low, scapose, ])erenuial by roundish tubers ; leaves 

 all radical, pinnatifid. — Prairies ; Kan. to Tex. 



96. CHONDRILLA, Tourn. 



Heads few-flowered. Involucre cylindrical, of several narrow linear equal 

 scales, and a row of small bractlets at base. Achenes terete, several-ribbed, 

 smooth below, roughened at the summit by little scaly ])rojecti()ns. from among 

 which springs an abrupt slender beak ; pappus of copious very fine and soft 

 capillary bristles, bright white. — Herbs of the Old World, with wand-like 

 branching stems, and small heads of yellow flowers. (A name of Dioscorides 

 for some plant which exudes a gum.) 



C. JUNCEA, L. Biennial, bristly -hairy below, smooth a])Ove (1 -.3° high); 

 root-leaves runcinate; stem-leaves few and small, linear ; heads .scattered on 

 nearly leafless branches, 6-H" long. — Fields and roadsides, abundant in Md. 

 and northern Va. Aug. (Adv. from Ku.) 



97. LACTUCA, Tourn. Lettice. 



Heads several - many-flowered. Involucre cylindrical or in fruit conical; 

 scales imbricated in 2 or more sets of unequal lengths. Achenes flat (obcom- 

 pressed, parallel to the scales), abruptly contracted into a beak, whicli is dilated 

 at the apex, bearing a copious and fugacious very soft and white capillary pap- 



