N 



XLIII. COMPOSITE. 246 



sometimes altogether wanting as in S. vulgaris. Achehes covered with 

 minute, appressed hairs. 



On banks, waste places, and borders of woods, in temperate and 

 southern Europe, from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean. Found 

 occasionally in most parts of Britain, but not generally common. 

 PL summer and autumn. 



4. S. squalidus, Linn. (fig. 545). Squalid S. An annual or biennial, 

 or even sometimes forming a stock of two or three years' duration, 

 with the stature of S. vulgaris, but quite glabrous. Leaves rather thick, 

 pinnatifid, with narrow, deeply cut, or jagged lobes. Flower-heads 

 rather large, in a loose corymb, with a bright-yellow, spreading ray, as 

 conspicuous as in S. Jacobcea. Achenes silky-hairy. 



A south European species, quite established on walls at Oxford, 

 Bideford, Cork, and a few other localities in middle and southern 

 England and Ireland, but evidently not indigenous. Fl. summer and 

 autumn. 



5. S. aquaticus, Huds. (fig. 546). Water S. Not always easy to 

 distinguish from S. Jacobcea, especially from occasional autumnal offsets 

 of the latter, when the main stem has been accidentally destroyed. The 

 foliage is nearly the same, but the plant appears to be of shorter dura- 

 tion, the stem not so tall, seldom attaining 2 feet, more branched and 

 spreading, the flower-heads larger, fewer, on longer peduncles, forming 

 a loose, irregular, spreading corymb, and especially the achenes appear 

 to be always quite glabrous. 



In wet places, along ditches, &c., spread over Europe, extending 

 northward to southern Scandinavia. Common in Britain. Fl. summer. 



6. S. Jacobaea, Linn. (fig. 547). Ragwort S. Rootstock short and 

 thick, without creeping shoots. Stems 2 to 4 feet high, erect, scarcely 

 branched except at the top. Leaves pinnate, with ovate, obovate, or 

 narrow segments, coarsely toothed or pinnatifid, the terminal ones 

 large and confluent, the lower ones smaller and distinct, all glabrous, 

 or with a loose woolly down, especially on the under side. Flower- 

 heads rather large, of a bright yellow, in a handsome, compact, terminal 

 corymb. Involucral bracts tipped with black, the outer ones few, and 

 very small. Florets of the ray from 12 to 15, linear-oblong and 

 spreading, occasionally but rarely deficient. Achenes of the disk 

 covered with short hairs, those of the ray glabrous. 



On roadsides, in waste places, and bushy pastures, all over Europe 

 and Russian Asia, except the extreme north. Very common in Britain. 

 Fl. summer, lasting till late. When checked in its growth, it often 

 assumes the spreading inflorescence of S. aquaticus, when it can only 

 be distinguished by inspection of the achenes. [The ray-flowers are 

 wanting in the var. S. Jlosculosus, Jord.] 



7. S. erucifolius, Linn. (fig. 548). Narrow-leaved S.Very near 

 S. Jacobcea. It is fully as tall, and has the same inflorescence and 

 flower-heads, but the rootstock is shortly creeping, the leaves are much 

 more regularly divided into narrower segments, the terminal ones not 

 very different from the others, and the achenes of the ray as hairy as 

 those of the disk. The whole plant is generally more or less covered 

 with a loose, cottony down. S. tenuifolius, Jacq. 



The geographical area and stations are about the same as those of 

 ,&. Jacobcea. It is rather more common in central and southern Europe, 



