240 COMPOSITE. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 



O. PYRRHOPAPPUS, DC. FALSE DANDELION. 



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

 and with a villous ring at the top of the long beak. Mostly annual or biennial 

 herbs, often branching and leafy-stemmed. Heads solitary, pretty large, termi- 

 nating the naked summit of the stem or branches. Flowers deep yellow. 

 (Name composed of irvppos, flame-colored, and iraniros, pappus.) 



1. P. Carol ill i;mus, DC. Stem branching below (l-2 high), 

 leaves oblong or lanceolate, entire, cut, or pinnatifid, the stem-leaves partly 

 clasping. Sandy fields, from Maryland southward. April -July. 



81. liACTtlCA, Tourn. LETTUCE. 



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

 of unequal lengths. Achenia 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 panicled heads; the flowers of variable color. (The ancient name 

 of the Lettuce, L. saliva; from lac, milk, in allusion to the milky juice.) 



1. lt elongata, Muhl. (WILD LETTUCE.) Stem tall and stout (2- 

 9 high, hollow) ; leaves partly clasping, pale beneath ; the upper lanceolate 

 and entire ; the lower runcinate-pinnatifid ; heads in a long and narrow naked 

 panicle ; achenia oval ; flowers pale yellow, varying to purple. Varies greatly ; 

 the leading form smooth or nearly so, with long leaves: the var. INTEGRI- 

 F6LIA is mostly smooth, with the leaves nearly all entire, and the flowers yel- 

 low or bluish (L. integrifolia, Bigel.) : the var. SANGU^NEA is smaller, mostly 

 hairy, and with runcinate leaves, and the flowers very variously colored (L. san- 

 guinea, Bigel.). Rich damp soil, borders of thickets, &c. July- Sept. 



82. MULGEDIUM, Cass. FALSE or BLUE LETTUCE. 



Heads many-flowered. Involucre, &c. as in Lactuca. Achenia laterally 

 compressed, striate or ribbed, the summit contracted into a short and thick beak 

 or neck, of the same texture, expanded at the apex into a ciliate disk, which 

 bears a copious rather deciduous pappus of soft capillary bristles. Leafy- 

 stemmed herbs, with the general aspect and foliage of Lactuca. Heads racemed 

 or panicled ; the flowers chiefly blue. (Name from mulgeo, to milk.) 

 # Pappus bright white : flowers blue. 



1 Iff. acuminatum, DC. Smooth, panicled above (3 -6 high); 

 stem-leaves ovate and ovate-lanceolate, pointed, merely tooilied, sometimes hairy on 

 the midrib beneath, contracted at the base into a winged petiole ; the lowest 

 often sinuate ; heads loosely panicled. @ Borders of thickets, New York to 

 Illinois, and southward. Probably only a state of the next. 



2. Iff. Florid a 11 ll ill, DC. Nearly smooth (3 -6 high); leaves allly- 

 rate or runcinate, the divisions sharply toothed ; heads in a loose compound pan- 

 icle. @ Varies with the upper leaves clasping by a heart-shaped base, &c. 

 Rich soil, Virginia and Ohio to Illinois, and southward. Aug. 



