Lactuca.] COMPOSITE. 241 



Distrib. From Belgium southd., N. Africa, W. Siberia. — Juice foetid 

 acrid, narcotic, used as an opiate. 



2. If. Scari'ola, L. ; rather scabrous below, leaves suberect, radical ob- 

 ovate-oblong sinuate-toothed or runcinate, upper sagittate amplexicaul, 

 auricles acute spreading, branches of panicle long spreading, fruit grey. 

 Waste places, rare, Worcester, Norfolk, Cambridge, Essex, Kent, and Surrey ; 



(native ? Wats.) ; fl. July-Aug.— Closely allied to L. viro'sa, but prickly 

 only towards the base ; branches more erect ; leaves usually more run- 

 cinate ; beads smaller ; fruit narrower. — Distrib. Europe, Siberia, 

 Himalaya ; introd. in N. America.— Apparently the origin of the garden 

 lettuce. 



3. L. salig'na, L. ; almost glabrous, leaves entire or runcinate acute, 

 cauline hastate amplexicaul, auricles spreading acute, uppermost narrow 

 entire, branches of panicle very short erect, fruit grey. 



Waste grounds, Suffolk and Hunts to Sussex and Kent, especially near the 

 sea, rare ; fl. July-Aug. — More slender than the preceding, much less bristly, 

 with the flowers often fascicled on short erect branches, subspicate. — 

 Distrib. From Holland southd., N. Africa, W. Asia. 



** Leaves not bristly. Beak shorter than the terete or 4-gonovs fruit, or 0. 



4. L. mura'lis, Fresen. ; glabrous, leaves broad lyrate-pinnatifid, upper 

 amplexicaul auricled, flowers yellow, fruit terete. Prenanthes muralis, L. 

 Old walls and rocky copses, in England, rare ; ascends to 1,300 ft. in Yorks. ; 



Perth and Stirling in Scotland ; Wicklow and Louth in Ireland ; fl. June- 

 Aug. — Tall, slender, annual or biennial, 1-3 ft. Leaves membranous, 

 glaucous beneath, narrow ; radical with a winged petiole ; lobes few toothed, 

 terminal large 3-angular sinuate-lobed. Branches of panicle slender diverg- 

 ing. H eads § in., yellow ; peduncles slender, bracteate; invol. bracts few, 

 linear, green and purplish. Fruit black, ribbed and muricate.— Distrib. 

 Europe, W. Asia. 



5. L. alpi'na, Benth. ; nearly glabrous, leaves sagittate lyrate or run- 

 cinate toothed, terminal lobe very large deltoid, flowers blue, fruit 4- 

 gonous. Sonchus, L. ; 8. cceruleus, Sm. ; Mulgedium, Less. 



Alpine rocks, Forfar, Aberdeen, alt. 2,003-3,000 ft. ; fl. Aug.— Glabrous except 

 the glandular-pilose inflorescence. Stem 3-4 ft., simple, stout, succulent, 

 grooved. Leaves 4-8 in. broad, membranous, narrowed into ^-amplexicaul 

 auricled winged petioles ; upper broadly ovate or triangular-cordate, acute, 

 shortly petioled. Heads 1 in. diam., pale blue, in erect simple or branched 

 racemes; peduncles ascending, bracteate; involucre subcylindric, bracts 

 linear. Fruit slightly compressed. — Distrib. Arctic and Alpine Europe, 

 W. Siberia. 



41. SON'CHUS, L. SOWTHISTLK 



Annual or perennial, often succulent brittle herbs ; juice milky. Leaves 

 alternate, toothed or pinnatifid. Heads corymbose or subumbellate, in- 

 volucre conical after flowering, scales in many series, imbricate ; receptacle 



R 



