Picris.] XXXIX. COMPOSITAE. 357 



' LAPSANA, Linn. 

 Heads cylindric ; involucral bracts 8 in one series, erect, with a few minute 

 bracteoles at base. Receptacle flat, naked. Florets 8-12, all ligulate. Style-arms 

 obtuse, pilose. Achenes not beaked, slightly compressed, striate, glabrous, not 

 enclosed in the bracts. Pappus 0. Erect branched annuals, with small heads in lax 

 panicles. 



* L. communis, L., Sp. PI. 811. Erect, lft.-2ft. high, branched above, 

 glabrate or nearly hispid. Leaves membranous, on slender petioles ; lower lyrate, 

 dentate or lobed, the upper entire or sinuate-toothed, narrowed into the petiole. 

 Panicle spreading. Peduncles short, slender. Involucral bracts hnear-acute, 

 glabrous or sometimes glandular. Florets 8-12. Achenes slightly curved, pale. 



Naturalised in cultivated lands and waste places from the North Cape to STEWART Island. 

 Nipplewort. Jan. to April. Europe. 



24. PICRIS, Linn. 

 Involucre hispid ; outer bracts in 3—3 series, short, spreading ; inner 

 bracts larger, erect, linear, acute. Receptacle naked, flat. Florets all ligulate. 

 Style-arms pilose. Achenes narrowed above, constricted or shortly beaked, 

 transversely striate, muricate or rugose. Pappus of 2 or many rows of soft 

 plumose bristles. Hispid branched annuals, with milky juice and alternate 

 paniculate leaves. 



The genus comprises about 24 species, chiefly natives of the temperate regions of the Northern 

 Hemisphere. One species extends to Australia and New Zealand; another is naturalised in both 

 countries. 



Name, from the Greek, in reference to the bitter taste of some species. 



Erect. Leaves linear. Achenes not beaked, or very shortly . . . . . . 1. P. hieracioides. 



Erect. Bristles glochidiate. Achenes with a distinct beak .. .. .. * P. echioides. 



1. P. hieracioides, L., Sp. PL 792. An erect hispid biennial, lft.-3ft. 

 high, corymbosely branched, the bristles mostly barbed at the tip. Leaves 

 3in.-6in. long, linear-oblong or lanceolate, the lower petioled, the upper 

 shorter, sessile, clasping. Peduncles slender. Involucres Jin.— Jin. long ; 

 bracts hispid and pubescent. Achenes contracted below the apex, sometimes 

 forming a very short beak, transversely striate or muricate. Pappus-bristles in 

 1 series, plumose. — E. B. t. 196; A. Cunn., Precurs. n. 432; Hook, f., Fl. 

 N.Z. i. 151; Handbk. 165; Benth., Fl. Augtr. iii. 677. P angustifolia, DC, 

 Prod. vii. 130. P. attenuata, A. Cunn., Precurs. n. 433. 



NOBTH Island : from the North Gape to the Auckland Isthmus. July, Aug. 



* P. echioides, L., Sp. PL 792. A coarse hispid or setose annual or biennial. 

 Stem stout, 2ft.-3ft. high, paniculately branched, grooved. Eadical leaves oblong- 

 lanceolate, sinuate-toothed, petioled ; cauline amplexicaul, hispid with rigid simple 

 or trifid hairs hooked at the tip and springing from tubercular bases. Peduncles 

 rather stout, diverging. Heads lin. in diameter ; involucre hemispheric, prickly and 

 setose ; outer bracts 3-5, Eoliaceous, lax, broadly cordate ; inner narrow-lanceolate, 

 acuminate, in 1 series, with a few smaller appressed at the base. Ligulae short. 

 Achenes curved, compressed, transversely rugose, with a long erect slender beak. 

 Pappus in several series, plumose. — Helminthia echioides, Gaertn.' 



NORTH and SOUTH Islands: naturalised from the Bay of Islands to Otago. Ox-tongue. 

 Jan. to March. Europe. 



