CHICORY FAMILY. Cicorlaceae. 



r . . RJ This is a straggling plant, from one to 



cmcory, clue , . . 



Sa il ors three feet tall, a perennial, with a long, 



Cichdrium fntybus deep tap-root, stiff, branching stems, and 



Bl ue leaves irregularly slashed into toothed 



Summer autumn lobes d chiefl from ^ Th 



Northwest, etc. J 



pretty flowers are trom an inch to an inch 



and a half across, much like those of Desert Chicory, but 

 very brilliant blue, occasionally white. This plant has 

 escaped from cultivation and is now very common in waste 

 places and along roadsides in the East and often found 

 in the West. The ground-up root is used as a substitute 

 for coffee. There is a picture in Mathews' Field Book. 



There are several kinds of Microseris, rather difficult to 

 distinguish. 



This is about a foot tall, with smooth. 

 Silver-puffs 

 Microseris hollow flower-stems, smooth leaves, and 



linearifblia rather small yellow flowers, not particu- 



Yellow larly pretty. The " gone-to-seed " flower- 



Souttfwest Ne nea ^s are, however, very conspicuous, for 

 they are nearly an inch and a half across, 

 and each seed is tipped by a little silvery paper star, the 

 effect before the wind carries them away being exceedingly 

 pretty, a good deal like a Dandelion puff. This grows in 

 the Grand Canyon on the plateau. 



There are many kinds of Sonchus, natives of the Old 

 World. 



tie ^ common w ^ed, from Europe, found 



Sonchus oleraceus across tne continent, coarse but decorative 

 Yellow in form, with a stout leafy stem, from one 



All seasons to four feet tall, and smooth leaves, with 



est, etc. some soft prickles on the edges, the upper 



ones clasping the stem and the lower ones with leaf-stalks. 

 The pale yellow flowers are three-quarters of an inch or 

 more across. 



There are several kinds of Taraxacum, natives of the 

 northern hemisphere and southern South America. 



This is a weed in all civilized parts of 



Taraxacum ^ e world, growing in meadows, fields, and 



Taraxacum waste places. It has a thick, deep, bitter 



Yellow root, a tuft of root-leaves, slashed into 



All seasons toothed lobes, and several hollow flower- 



* *' e * stalks, from two to eighteen inches tall, 



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