CLASS XIX. ORDER I. | SONCHUS. 1029 
with elevated points. Pappus soft, slender, silky, elevated on a 
short awn. 
Habitat—Roots of trees, woods, and on old walls. 
Perennial ; flowering in July and August. 
This is a pretty elegant looking plant, growing upon the ruins of 
old buildings, walls, &. On account of its having only five florets 
in a head, it is made into a separate genus, Pheniwopus, Cassin, 
but that does not appear a sufficiently important character to separate 
it from Lactuea. 
GENUS IX. SON'CHUS.—Linn. Sow-thistle. 
Nat. Ord. Composi'rEx. Juss. 
Gen. Coan. Jnvolucrum oblong, imbricated, with two rows of un- 
equal scales. Receptacle naked. Fruit compressed, the apex 
truncated, Pappus short, hairy—Named by the Greeks covxos, 
from cou.os, soft ; in allusion to the soft nature of the stem. 
1. 8. alpi'nus, Linn. (Fig. 1205.) Blue Alpine Sow-thistle. Inflo- 
rescence racemose, glanduloso-hispid; leaves lyrate, the terminal lobe 
large, triangular, toothed, the point long, acuminate, the petiole 
winged, lobed at the base, and embracing the stem, smooth, as is the 
lower pert of the stem; fruit linear, oblong, numerously striated. 
Hooker, British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 292.—Lindley, Synopsis, p. 
156.—S. ceruleus, Smith.—English Botany, t. 2425.—English 
Flora, vol. iii. p. 241. 
Root “tuberous, woody, slightly creeping.” Stem erect, about three 
feet high, round, hollow, leafy, simple, smooth below, rough and 
viscid, with glandular tipped hairs, of a reddish colour above. Leaves 
smooth, bright green above, pale and glaucous beneath, the lower 
ones large, lyrate, the terminal lobe triangular, heart-shaped, toothed, 
the point long, tapering, the lateral lobes oblong, acute, the petiole 
winged, the base lobed, and clasping the stem, one or two of the 
upper floral leaves entire, lanceolate. Inflorescence racemose, of 
numerous loose flowers, of a fine blue colour, each on an erect pedicle, 
with several awl-shaped bracteas. Involucre more or less clothed 
with glandular hairs, the outer ones small, lanceolate, the inner 
linear, obtuse, hairy at the point. Florets linear, obtuse, cut into 
slender teeth at the end. Frwit linear, oblong, compressed, nume- 
rously striated. Pappus rough. 
Habitat.—Rocky places near rivulets; Highlands of Scotland, 
Loch-na-gar and Clove Mountains, Glen Dole and Glen Isla. 
Perennial; flowering in July and August. 
This beautiful species of Sonchus is found on most of the high 
mountains of Europe, from those of Lapland to the Alps of Switzer- 
land. 
