Crepit.] XLIII. COMPOSITE. 265 



chiefly radical and pinnatifid, with a large, terminal, coarsely toothed 

 lobe, and small ones along the stalk. Stems erect, 1 to 2 feet high, 

 bearing a few small, narrow leaves. Flower-heads smaller than in C. 

 foetida, forming a loose, terminal, flat corymb. Involucres scarcely 

 hairy, the outer bracts much shorter than the inner ones, lanceolate, 

 and more or less membranous and whitish on the edges. Achenes all 

 terminated by a slender beak about the length of the achene itself. 

 Earkhausia taraxacifolia, Mcench. 



In rather dry pastures and wet places, in central and especially 

 southern Europe, and eastward to the Caucasus, not extending into 

 northern Germany. In Britain, chiefly in limestone districts of southern 

 England, but extending to Yorkshire ; rather more frequent than C. 

 foetida, but frequently confounded with that plant or with C. biennis. 

 PL. summer. 



2. C. foetida, Linn. (fig. 597). Fetid C. A slight hairy annual or 

 biennial, seldom a foot high, with a few spreading branches. Radical 

 leaves irregularly pinnatifid, with short lobes, the terminal ones varying 

 from broadly triangular to narrow-oblong ; the stem-leaves narrow, the 

 lower slightly pinnatifid, the upper entire or toothed. Flower-heads 

 few, on long peduncles, usually recurved after flowering. Involucres 

 hairy, the outer bracts small, and very narrow. The beak of the outer 

 achenes is 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. Earkhausia foetida, Mcench. 



In rather dry pastures and waste places, in southern Europe to the 

 Caucasus, becomes rare farther north. In Britain only in some of the 

 southern and eastern counties of England. Fl. summer. 



3. C. virens, Linn. (fig. 598). Smooth 0. An erect or ascending, 

 branched annual or biennial, from 1 to 3 feet high, usually glabrous or 

 nearly so. Leaves linear or lanceolate, toothed or pinnatifid, with 

 triangular or narrow, but short lobes ; the radical ones stalked, the 

 upper ones clasping the stem by pointed, spreading auricles. Flower- 

 heads small, in loose, often leafy panicles. Involucres often slightly 

 hispid, and become conical after flowering ; the outer bracts narrow- 

 linear, and rather close. Achenes narrow-oblong, very slightly con- 

 tracted at the top, but not beaked, and generally shorter than the 

 pappus, although a few in the same head may be much longer than the 

 rest, and longer than their own pappus. 



In pastures, on dry banks, roadsides, and waste places, throughout 

 western and central Europe, from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean ; 

 farther east apparently replaced by C. tectorum. One of the commonest 

 of the British Ligulatos. FL the whole summer and autumn. It varies 

 much in stature and in the size and number of the flower-heads, but 

 they are always smaller than in any other British species. 



4. C. biennis, Linn. (fig. 599). Rough C.A taller and stouter 

 plant than 0. virens, more frequently biennial, less branched from the 

 base, but forming a broad, terminal corymb of rather larger flower- 

 heads ; the leaves more or less rough with short, stiff hairs ; and the 

 outer bracts of the involucre broader, with a whitish, membranous 

 edge. In this respect it resembles the larger forms of C. taraxacifolia, 

 but the achenes have the ribs much smoother, and although narrowed 

 at the top, they do not bear the long, slender beak of that speciea 



