Lactuca.'] LXXVIII. COMPOSITE. (J. D. Hooker.) 411 



narrowly elliptic-lanceolate narrowed into a brown t>eak %-\ as long as the body. 

 Clarke Comp. Ind, 271. ChondriUa (Crepis?) gracilis, Wall. Cat. 32G7. 



NIPAL, Wallich. KHASIA MTS., alt. 3-5000 ft., De Silva, &c. BHOTAN, Griffith. 



A flaccid annual ? Leaves 4-6 by - in., erect, usually quite entire. Flowering 

 stems 6--18 in., few solitary or many from the root. Heads 3-8-fld., erect ; outer invol. 

 bracts minute, inner 4-8 linear ; ligules yellow. Achenes ~ i n - including the slender 

 beak, pale red, much compressed, many-ribbed ; pappus deciduous, more scanty, brittle, 

 and coarser than in L. sagittarioides and polycephala. The small heads, pappus, and 

 cauline leaves simple at the base, at once distinguish this from L. polycephala, than 

 which this has usually far more heads. It appears closely allied to a Java plant of 

 Horsfield's named by Miquel Aracium Icevigatitm, which is the Prenantkes Icevigata of 

 Blume (not of Wallich), and Lactuca Itevigata, DC. 



VAH. Jchasiana, Clarke mss. ; heads ^ in. long, achenes in. beak shorter. Khasia 

 mts., alt. 3-5000 ft., J. D. H. # T. T. 



DOUBTFUL SPECIES. 



L. BENTHAMII, Clarke Comp. Ind. 273, from Kashmir (Kavang and Karnag, alt. 

 12-15,000 ft., Stoliczka} is unknown to me. Clarke describes it as a glaucous herb, 

 with dichotomous scapes 4-6 in. high, spathulate oblong entire or obscurely toothed 

 3-nerved leaves, cylindric heads with many purple flowers, 8 equal oblong inner 

 invol. bracts, small outer, and a 1 -seriate dirty- white pappus. It is not Bentham's 

 new species of Chorisma, which is Crepis gracilipes (p. 396). 



115. FRSNANTHES, Linn. 



Glabrous or hispid milky herbs, often tall and slender, sometimes subscan- 

 dent. Leaves alternate, usually petioled, sagittate or cordate, pinnatifid or lyrate, 

 membranous, petiole often winged, upper narrow sessile or stem-clasping. Heads 

 small (slender pendulous and few-fid, in the Indian species), loosely panicled or 

 racemed, of various colours, homogarnous ; fl. all ligulate. Involucre cylindric ; 

 inner bracts long and narrow, 1-2-seriate, equal, thinly herbaceous, unchanged 

 after flowering, outer few small ; receptacle flat, naked. Achenes narrowly ob- 

 long or contracted at both ends, slightly compressed or 3-5-angled, usually ribbed, 

 tip with a pappiferous disk ; pappus hairs 2-3-seriate, simple, slender or rigid, 

 separately deciduous. DISTKIB. Species about 16, N. temperate regions. 



The Indian species referred here to Prenantkes by Bentham (in Gen. Plant.) and 

 Clarke (Comp. Ind.) are identical in habit with Section V. of Lactuca, from which 

 they are distinguishable only by the achene less suddenly contracted at the tip, and 

 less flattened. L. rapunculoides (p. 407) is perhaps a Prenantkes. 



1. P. Kiiasiana, Clarke Comp. Ind. 273; slender, erect, glabrous or 

 sparsely hairy, leaves long-peduncled, radical deltoid base cordate lower pinnate, 

 lateral pinnules petioled terminal simple or 3-lobed, panicle elongate branches 

 yery slender, heads narrow pendulous cylindric glabrous, flowers 1-4 blueish 

 purple, achenes contracted slightly above and below, pappus brown brittle. 



KHASIA MTS., alt. 5-6000 ft., Griffith, &c. 



Stem 1-4 ft. Leaves membranous, ciliate-toothed, lower 8-10 by 3-4 in. ; pinnules 

 2-3 pair, alternate, oblong or ovate-cordate, base equal or very oblique, acute and 

 apiculate ; terminal lobe ovate or deltoid, base cordate or hastate ; upper pinnatifid ; 

 petiole of the radical leaves very slender, 4-8 in., of cauline shorter. Panicles 1-2 ft., 

 strict ; branches erect, ultimate and peduncles filiform with few small bracts. Heads 

 ^- in. long; outer invol. bracts minute, inner 3-4 linear obtuse. Achenes very nar- 

 row, | in., compressed, truncate, brown, ribbed, equalling the scanty pappus. Habit 

 of Lactuca graciliflora. 



2. P. Brunoniana, Wall. Cat. 3278 ; erect, subhispid or glabrous, leaves 

 polymorphous simple lobed pinnatifid or pinnate ovate or cordate or deltoid or 



