276 SUMMER FLOWERS. 



toothed ; flower-heads small, yellow, on slender pedicels ; in- 

 volucres of five equal linear bracts, with 1-3 very small outer 

 ones, containing 4-5 florets ; beak of the black achenes much 

 shorter than the achene itself. Woods and shrubby places. 

 Fl. July to August. 



** Leaves sessile, with a bristly keel. 



Ii. virosa: annual or biennial; stem erect, stiff, 2-4 feet 

 high, with short, spreading branches, glabrous, except a few 

 stiff bristles or small prickles on the edges and midrib of the 

 leaves ; leaves spreading, broadly-oblong, toothed ; flower- 

 heads in a leafy panicle; florets 6-12, pale yellow; achenes 

 much flattened, obovate-oblong, striated, nearly black, with a 

 slender beak about their own length. Dry, stony wastes, 

 banks, and roadsides. Fl. July, August. 



L. Scariola, which is allied to this, has upright leaves, 

 arrow-shaped at the base, and the achenes are pale-coloured. 



(177) Barkhansia. 



B. taraxacifolia : biennial; leaves chiefly radical, runcinately 

 pinnatifid, with a large, terminal, coarsely-toothed lobe ; stems 

 erect, 1-2 feet high, bearing a few small, narrow leaves ; 

 flower-heads small, forming a loose, terminal, flat corymb ; 

 florets yellow, purple beneath ; achenes all terminated by a 

 slender beak about the length of the achene itself. Dry pas- 

 tures and waste places, chiefly in limestone districts. Fl. 

 June, July. 



B. fcetida, an allied plant, growing about a foot high, has 

 irregularly-pinnatifid leaves, few flower-heads on long pedun- 

 cles, and the beak of the outer achenes very short, often 

 scarcely distinct, whilst that of the inner ones is long and 

 slender, carrying up the Whole pappus above the tips of the 

 involucral bracts. 



