COMPOSITAE 



COMPOSITE FAMILY 



WHITE LETTUCE 



Prcnanthes alba L. 



The White Lettuce is common in rich woods from Maine 

 to Saskatchewan and south to Georgia, Kentucky and Illinois. 

 It is perennial and the entire plant is more or less covered with a 

 thin coat of whitish wax. The 

 stem is commonly purplish 

 and 2-5 feet high. The leaves 

 are thick and quite similar, 

 the largest sometimes 8 inches 

 long. 



The heads, hanging down- 

 ward, are numerous and 8-15- 

 flowered, blooming in August 

 and September. The pur- 

 plish involucre is cylindrical 

 and composed of about 8 

 principal bracts and several 

 very small outer ones at the 

 base. The receptacle is flat 

 and naked. The flowers are 

 greenish or yellowish white, 

 fragrant, and all the corollas 

 are tubular. The pappus is 

 reddish brown and bristly. 



The Rattlesnake Root or 

 Smooth White Lettuce, Prenanthes racemosa Michx., grows in marsh- 

 es and other open wet places. It too is covered with a waxy bloom. 

 The stem is smooth and 2-6 feet high. The slightly toothed leaves 

 are oval or oblong-lanceolate; the lower taper into winged petioles, 

 whereas the upper are partly clasping. The heads are very numerous 

 in crowded clusters and do not droop much. The oblong-cylindric 

 involucre is nearly one-halt inch long, covered with coarse stiff hairs, 

 and has 8-10 principal bracts with several smaller outer ones. The 

 flowers are purplish and there are 12-15 in each head, blooming in 

 August and September. The pappus is straw color. 



The Gall of the Earth or Tall Rattlesnake Root, Prenanthes tri- 

 Joliata (Cass.) Fernald, is a smooth perennial 3-9 teet tall, nearly all 

 of whose thinnish leaves are petioled, or the lower ternate. It grows 

 in thickets and woods, principally in central and southern counties, 

 and blooms from August to October. The smooth involucre is pale 

 green or purplish, the flowers whitish or pale yellow, and the pappus 

 is light brown. 



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