280 CO-MI'OSIT.IC. (COMPOSITK KAMlLi.) 



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

 some plant whieli exudes a j,^um.) 



1. C. JiJNt'EA, L. Biennial; bristly-hairy below, smooth above (l°-3° 

 hi- li) ; root-leaves runeinate ; stem-leaves few and small, linear ; heads seattercd 

 on nearly leafless branches, 6" -8" long. — Fields and roadsides, abundant 

 near -Vle.xandria, Virginia, M. J. BM, A. II. CurUas; j)erhaps of recent intro- 

 duction. Aug. (Adv. irom Eu.) 



81. PYRRHOPAPPUS, DC. False Dandelion. 



Heads, &c. nearly as in Taraxacum, but the soft pappus reddish or rusty- 

 color, and with a villous ring at the top of the long beak of the achenium. — 

 Mostly annual or biennial herbs, often branching and leafy below. Heads soli- 

 tary, terminating the naked summit of the stem or branches. Flowers deep 

 yellow. (Name composed of nvppos, flame-colored, and namros, pup/ms.) 



1. P. Carolini^nUS, DC. Stemi)ranching(l°-2°high); leaves oblong 

 or lanceolate, entire, cut, or pinnatifid, the stem-leaves partly clasping. — Sandy 

 fields, from Maryland southward. April -July. 



82. TARAXACUM, Hallcr. Dandelion. 



Head many-lowered. Involucre double, the outer of short scales; the inner 

 of long linear scales, erect in a single row. Aehenia terete, oblong, ribbed, and 

 roughened on the ribs, the apex prolonged into a very slender thread-like beak, 

 bearing the pappus of copious soft and white capillary bristles. — Perennials or 

 biennials, producing a tuft of pinnatifid or runeinate radical leaves, and slender 

 naked hollow scapes, bearing a single large head of yellow flowers. (Name 

 from Tapd(T(T(i)., to (lisf/iiirt or disorder, in allusion to medicinal properties.) . 



1. T. Dens-le6nis, Desf. (Common Dandelion.) Smooth, or at first 

 pubescent; outer involucre reflcxcd. — Pastures and fields everywhere: prob- 

 alily indigenous in the North. April - Sept. — After blossoming, the inner invo- 

 lucre closes, the slender beak elongates and rai<es up the pappus while the fruit 

 is forming; the whole involucre i-; then refle.xed, exposing to the wind the naked 

 fruits, with the pappus displayed in an open globular head. (Eu.) 



83. LACTUCA, Tourn. Lkttiice. 



Heads several-flowered. Scales of the involucre imbricated in 2 or more sets 

 of unequal lengths. Aehenia flat (compressed parallel to the scales of the invo- 

 lucre), abruptly contracted into a long thread-form beak, bearing a copious and 

 fugacious pappus of very soft and white capillary bristles. — Leafy-stemmed 

 herbs, with j)anicled heads; the flowers of variable color, produced in summer 

 and autninn. (The ancient name of the Lettuce, L. scitini; from hf, milk, in 

 allusion to the milky juice.) 



L L. Canadensis, L. (Wild Lettuce.) Biennial, mostly tall ; leaves 

 partly clasping, ])ale bemath ; the ujjpcr lanceolate and entire ; heads about 20- 

 flowered ; aehenia oval, rather longer than the beak, minutely rugose transversely 

 and I'oughish, one-ribbed on each face. The typical form (L. elongata, Muh! , 



