118 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



SPECIES II.— L A C T U C A SCARIOLA, Unn. 

 Plate DCCCVI. 

 Ifeieh. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XIX. Tab. MCCCCXXI. Figs. 1, 2. 



Stem slightly scabrous with small prickles at the base, 

 nearly smooth. Radical leaves obloug, sinuate-pinnatifid ; lowe 

 stem-leaves ascending, oblong, runcinate-pinnatiild, sub-acute ; th<j 

 upper ones usually undivided ; all (except the lowest) sagittate 

 amplexicaul, with acute spreading auricles (not decurrent)j 

 spinous-denticulate on the margins, spiny on the midrib beneatl 

 Panicle with the branches rather elongate, ascending. Achene 

 greyish-olive, elliptical-ovoid, narrowly bordered, scabrous at thJ 

 top ; beak white, as long as the achene. 



In waste places. Rare. Plentiful near Southend, Essex j 

 sparingly about Plumstead, Kent ; and I have specimens fror 

 near Longden, Worcestershire, collected by Mr. T. Westcombe 

 It occurs also in Sussex, Surrey, Middlesex, and Cambridgeshire | 

 but I have not seen specimens from these counties. 



England. Biennial or annual. Late Summer 

 and Autumn. 



This plant bears some resemblance to L. virosa, which is coniJ 

 bined with it by Mr. Bentham : it is, however, much more nearlj 

 allied to L. saligna than to the preceding species. The stem 

 usually shorter tlian that of L. virosa, rarely exceeding 3 feet id 

 height, much less prickly, and that only towards the base, the leave 

 and branches ascending in an angle of about forty-five degrees ; thJ 

 segments of the leaves are longer, more acvite, and more curves 

 backwards than in the pinnatitid forms of L. virosa ; the auricles are 

 more acute, and not bent round and applied to the stem, as is the 

 case (at least in the lower and intermediate leaves) in that species ; 

 the anthodes are smaller ; the achenes narrower, more attenuated 

 below, less compressed, and with narrower margins, and their colour, 

 instead of being nearly black, is of an olive-grey ; the plant is of a 

 deeper green, and less glaucous. 



In L. Scariola a comparatively small number of seeds germinate 

 in autumn, the greater number not till the succeeding spring. This 

 is the case at Southend, where L. virosa appears to be invariahly 

 biennial, L. Scariola very partially so, and L. saligna truly annual. 

 Of course, in warmer localities the two latter may be more fre- 

 quently biennial, and in colder ones L. virosa may become annual. 



Frickly Lettuce. 



French, Luiluc .'iauvajr. German, Wilder Lattich. 



