124 STNGENESIA. MqVAJAS, 



cies of Lacfuca and Leontodon, to t)iis substance mwst be 

 attributed the real or pretended efficacy of these plant.** 

 against the bites of pois^onous reptiles. From this circum- 

 stance arose the name of Scorxonera, a genus suffi- 

 ciently abundant in the South of Europe, the n^me of 

 which is nothing m.ore than a corruption of the Spanisii 

 Tvoul escorzoy a viper, the plants of this genus having been 

 popularly administered as remedies for the bite of that 

 animal, hence it is called also *• Viper's-grass." 



529. LACTUCA. L. (Lettuce.) 



Calix imbricatec!, cylinthic, margin (of the 

 segments) nierabranaceous. P.ecepiade naked. 

 Pappus simple, stipitate. Seed even. 



Vegetation partly similar to that of So7ichiis- Flovvei's 

 yellow, more rarely blue. 



Species. LL,. elougaia. L.longifoUa? Mich. 2. ^hirstita. 

 Muhl. Catal. Lower part of the stem and leaves hirsutely 

 pilose, radical ones lyrate^ segments truncate, subden- 

 tate, the upper leaves partly runcinate-pinnatlfid; flowers 

 racemose, squamae subulate. Hab. In Pennsylvania. Pap- 

 pus stipitate. v. a. In Herb. Muhl. o. graminifolia. 



4. * inito-rifolia. Leaves subamplexicaule, ovate-oblong, 

 all entire^ smooth. j}2niC-2 fc\v-f:Gy.'t;rcd, branchlets sq'ui- 

 niose; flowers large and blue. L. oblongifolia. T. N. in Fras. 

 Catal. Sonchus pidchelhis. Ph- 2- p. 502. Hab. On the 

 grassy alluvial soils of ths Missouri and the lesser streams, 

 ' from the Arikarees to the Mountains. Allied to Sonchus 

 dbiricns^ but the pappus is stipitate. Obs. Root peiei\- 

 r.ial. Stem 1 and a half, to 2 feet high, dividing irregu- 

 larly above into a few-flowered, fastigiate panicle. Leaves 

 somewhat glaucous, verv entire below, of an irregul.ir, 

 elongated oblong ihm\, "stem leaves sometimes with a 

 swingle setaceous toolli at the base. Flowers about tlie 

 size, and nearly the colour, of those of CichorUm Intifbus. 

 (Jalix cylindricl Flowering in August and September. 



Excepting the above, almost exclusively an European 

 genus containing 22 species. Scarcely a i^.atural group, a 

 mere section of Sonchus? The native country of the com- 

 mon SaUad Lettuce {L. sativa) can now no longer be as- 

 certained. 



530. SONCHUS. L. (Sow-Thistle.) 



CalU' imbricated, ventiirose. Jleceytack na- 

 ked. Pappus piloac, sessile. 



