PLANTS. 289 



shaped or tubular, in the latter chiefly five-lobed, val- 

 vate in the hild; the veins bordering the margins of 

 the buds. The tubular flowers compose the disk, and a 

 head which has no ray flowers is said to be discoid. 



The nineteenth Class, according to Linnaeus, Syngo- 

 nesiu belongs to this order. The first according to this 

 arrangement is 



The Dandelion, corrupted from Dent de Lion, Lion's- 

 tooth (Leontodon taraxacum). Leaves all radical or 

 issuing from the root, clawed and toothed, recurving 

 backwards towards the base of the leaf, runcinate. Makes 

 its appearance in the early spring ; grows in every field 

 where there is grass ; the stem or scape is round, hollow, 

 bearing a single head of yellow (ligulate corolla) flowers. 

 After the flower is decayed, the scape rises higher, and 

 bears a head of perfected seed and seed-down, the airy, 

 globular form of which, conspicuous among the grass, is 

 well known to children, who call them witches, and take 

 great pleasure in blowing them about, and also in mak- 

 ing chains of the stems. The latter, smooth, round, and 

 hollow, contain a milky juice ; are very fragile. Root 

 spindle-shaped, like the rest of the plant, is very succu- 

 lent, and although bitter, is eaten either as greens or 

 salad. Said to possess medicinal properties ; is used in 

 disease of the liver. It . 



Lettuce (Lactuca sativa), milky, Lat. Stem two to 

 four feet high ; branches horizontal, and clothed with nu- 

 merous small leaves, variable in form, but the lower ones 

 are mostly roundish ; upper, heart-shaped ; heads numer- 

 ous and paniculate ; flowerets yellow. This plant, called 

 Salad, is universally known, and has been cultivated 

 from the earliest times. Taste somewhat bitterish, 



IS 



