1044 LAPSANA. [CLASS XIX. ORDER 1. 
scales rough, the outer ones short, ovate lanceolate, spreading, the 
inner linear, erect. Jlorets linear, obtuse, five toothed at the end. 
Receptacle naked, or slightly hairy, and pitted. Fruit angular, 
striated. Pappus short scales. 
Habitat.—Borders of fields, road sides, and waste places, especially 
in a sandy or gravelly soil. 
Perennial; flowering in July and August. 
The bright blue colour of the flowers of this plant entitle it to a 
place in the flower garden, but the straggling stems prevent its 
being cultivated as a border flower. The leaves of the young plant 
blanched form a favourite winter and spring salad. In France the 
long tapering roots are collected and packed up in cellars or dark 
places, protected from the frost and cold, with sand or earth, the 
crowns only of the roots being exposed, they then put out leaves, 
and as they are protected from the light and blanched, are, if quick 
grown, very tender, with a pleasant flavour: by this mode of cultivation 
they are enabled to supply the table all the winter with an esteemed 
salad. The roots, as well as the leaves, by cultivation in a light 
soil, become much larger, and on the Continent the roots are 
cut into small pieces and dried, and are afterwards roasted and 
used as a substitute for coffee. By many persons, the powder thus 
prepared, and mixed with an equal weight of powdered coffee, is 
preferred to the coffee alone ; indeed it is said that on the Continent, 
where so much coffee is used, it is always yrepared in this manner, 
and that coffee alone is never made use of. Great quantities of the 
Endive roots are annually imported into England for the same pur- 
pose. The plant cultivated as food for cattle is said to be very pro- 
fitable, especially for cows, as it greatly increases the quantity of 
milk ; but it has never come into general cultivation for that purpose, 
though in some parts of Germany, and also in the North of Italy, we 
have seen large plots of land cultivated with it. The C. Endivia, 
Linn., is distinguished by its floral leaves being broadly ovate ; in 
other respects it is the same, and by some Botanists it is thought to 
be only a variety of C. Intybus, and not a distinct species. 
GENUS XIV. LAPSA’NA.—Liny. Nipple-wort. 
Nat. Ord. Composi'rx. Juss. 
Gen. Cuan. Jnvolucrum of numerous linear lanceolate scales, and 
small scattered ones at the base, erect, and unchanged in fruit. 
Receptacle naked. uit compressed, striated, deciduous. 
Pappus none. Name from Axretw, to purge; from its laxative 
properties. 
1. L. commu'nis, Linn. (Fig. 1231.) Common Nipple-wort. Inyo- 
