( October 23, 1909 1 2$ 



Some other Composites 



There is little to indicate when the common dandelion 

 ( Taraxacum officinale) first appeared in California. The au- 

 thors of the Botany of the State Survey (1876) were only able 

 to say that there were "some indications" of its presence. Rat- 

 tan reported it as common about Humboldt Bay in 1879 (40), 

 and it was well established in the San Francisco region (41). 

 Probably it is to be found at the present time in most parts of 

 the state. In southern California it had already made its ap- 

 pearance at Los Angeles as early as 1892 (42), but was still rare 

 three years later (43). It was in the latter year (1895) that I 

 first saw a few plants in a lawn at San Bernardino. It is now 

 frequent in that town and in the surrounding country, in lawns 

 and by roadsides, and in damp meadows. 



Twenty years ago the milk thistle {Silybum Marianuni), 

 although still infrequent, was increasing at a rate that threat- 

 ened to make it a serious pest. The event, however, proved 

 otherwise, and while it is now commoner it is for the most part 

 confined to waste places and neglected roadsides. Xanthium 

 spiiiosum, 0:1 the other hand, found in similar situations, is now 

 much less frequent. 



The Russian Thistle 



No weed that has ever reached the United Slates, unless it 

 be the Canada thistle, has excited more alarm, has proved more 

 pernicious, or has provoked more warning bulletins and more 

 repressive laws than has Salsola Kali var. tenuifolia^ the mis- 

 called "Russian thistle." Introduced about 1873, in flax seed 

 brought from Russia, and sown near Scotland, South Dakota, 

 (44) it spread with great rapidity, and proved a most serious 

 pest, which is, indeed, its character in its native land, the steppes 

 of southeastern Russia. The climatic conditions of that region 



(40) California Hort. J>: 333. 1879. 



(41) Greene, Man. Bay Region 227. 1894. 

 \\'l\ Davidson, List i<>. [892. 



(43) Davidson, PI. Los Aug. Co. 18. [895; McClatchie, 

 Fl. Pasad. 646. [895. 



(44) Dewey, Bull. Div. Bot. U.S. Dept. Agr. 15: 12. 1894. 



