CLASS XIX. ORDER I.] SONCHUS. 1031 
pressed, striated, and rough, with elevated points. Pappus smooth, 
few, white, silky. 
Habitat—Corn fields ; very frequent. 
Perennial ; flowering in August. 
4. 8. olera'ceus, Linn. (Fig. 1208.) Common Sow-thistle. Stem 
branched, the branches sub-umbellated; involucre smooth ; leaves 
ovate oblong, runcinato-pinnatifid, and entire, the lower ones tapered 
into amore or less contracted footstalk, the upper ones sessile, with 
acute or rounded auricles at the base ; fruit ovate, compressed, three 
ribbed on each side, transversely rugulose, and the ribs more or less 
toothed. 
English Botany, t. 843—English Flora, vol. iii. p. 343.—Hooker, 
British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 292.—Lindley, Synopsis, p. 156. 
B. asper. (Fig. 1209). Leaves with rounded auricles, the lower 
ones sessile, or with a winged footstalk ; fruit smooth, the ribs nearly 
smooth, the marginal ones only distinctly toothed. 
Hooker, British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 292. 
S. asper, Hoffm. English Botany, Suppl. t. 2765 and 2766. 
fioot tapering. Stem erect, branched, smooth, round, or angular 
leafy, very brittle. Leaves ovate oblong, runcinato-pinnatifid, or 
entire, smooth, shining, green above, pale and glaucous beneath, the 
margin more or less toothed with sharp bristly teeth, the lower leaves 
tapering into a broad footstalk, more or less winged, the upper ones 
sessile, with an auricled lobe on each side, embracing the stem, which 
are oblong, acute, or more or less rounded. Inflorescence numerous, 
rather small flowers, terminating the stem and branches in a sub- 
umbellate or cymose manner, the peduncles and pedicles more or 
less clothed with glandular tipped hairs, often smooth, and sometimes 
with a tuft of cottony down beneath the involucre. Bracteas lanceo- 
late, smooth. Jnvolucre smooth, the outer segments small, lanceolate, 
the inner linear, erect. lorets linear, obtuse, finely toothed at the 
end. Fruit oblong, ovate, compressed, each side three ribbed, and 
smooth, or transversely wrinkled, or the ribs are rough, with elevated 
points more or less conspicuous. Pappus white, silky, roughish. 
Habitat.—W aste places and cultivated grounds ; very common. 
Annual; flowering from July to September. 
Few plants vary more than this in its size and appearance, accord- 
ing to the place of its growth, as to the soil and situation. Its leaves 
are as described above, larger or smaller; the lower ones either with 
a distinct footstalk, or winged to the bottom, the upper ones are 
sessile, and with large rounded auricles at the base, or they are small 
and acutely pointed. The fruit is also equally as variable. We have 
specimens haying the rounded auricles with the fruit smooth, and 
transversely rugulose, and we have others with the fruit smooth ; 
but the ribs very rough, with elevated points. This difference in the 
