360 XXXIX. COMPOSITAE. {Taraxacum. 



outer setaceous, persistent ; inner longer, plumose, dilated at the base ; or the outer of 

 toothed scales and the inner of 1 row of plumose hairs. Perennial scapigerous herbs, 

 with radical entire or pinnatifid leaves. 



Leaves hispid. Buds drooping. 

 Pappus feathery on the inner aohenes, scaly on the outer . . . . . . * L. hirtus. 



Pappus of all the aohenes 2-s6riate ; outer short, soabrid ; inner longer, plumose * L. hispidus. 



Leaves glabrous. Buds erect. 

 Pappus 1-seriate, plumose . . .. .. .. .. .. .- * L. autumnalis. 



■■'■ L. hirtus, L., Syst. ed. X. 1194. Leaves 2in.-6in. long, hispid, oblong or 

 lanceolate, almost entire, sinuate or lobed, petiolate. Scapes slender, simple, 3in.- 

 9in. long. Heads -|in.-fin. in diameter ; involucral bracts lanceolate, keeled, glabrous, 

 downy or ciliate on the margins. Achenes striate, muricate. Pappus of the outer 

 achenes of toothed scales ; of the inner 2-seriate, plumose. — Thrincia hij-ta, Eoth. 



NORTH Island : naturalised near Auckland, Napier, and Wellington, &o. SOUTH Island : 

 Canterbury Plains. Deo. to -Feb. 



* L. hispidus, L., Sp. PL 799. Perennial. Eootstock truncate. Leaves 

 3in.-8in. long, oblong-lanceolate, almost entire sinuate or runcinate, hispid with 

 forked hairs. Scapes simple, naked or "with 1 or 2 scale-like bracts, hispid, 4m.-15in. 

 long. Buds drooping. Heads lin.-lfin. in diameter ; involucre obconic ; bracts 

 linear-lanceolate, hispid or slightly woolly. Florets glandular at the apex. Aohenes 

 ribbed, muricate ; beak slender. Pappus of all the florets 2-seriate, plumose ; of the 

 inner slightly dilated at the base. — Apargia hispida, Scop. 



NORTH and SOUTH Islands : naturalised in pastures and waste places ; not uncommon. 

 Sea-level to 3,000ft. Dec. to Feb. Europe. 



* L. autumnalis, L., Sp. PL 798. Perennial. Eootstock truncate, 4in -lOin. 

 long. Leaves glabrous or glabrate, sometimes hispid above, lanceolate, toothed or 

 pinnatifid, narrowed at the base. Scapes usually branched and solitary, rarely 

 simple, bracteate. Peduncles slender, swollen upwards. Buds erect. Heads -Jin - 

 l-|in. in diameter; outer involucral bracts subulate, glabrous or more or less hairy ; 

 inner shorter, linear-obtuse Achenes very slender, ribbed and slightly muricate. 

 Pappus of all the florets in 1 row, plumose, dilated at the base, brownish-white. — 

 Oporinia autumnalis, D. Don. 



NORTH Island : naturalised ; Auckland, Waikato, Wellington. Probably not uncommon. 

 March. Europe. 



26. TARAXACUM, Linn. 



Heads Jin.— 3in. in diameter, terminating naked fistulose scapes ; invo- 

 lucral bracts herbaceous, subimbricate, the inner in 1 row^ linear, erect^ the 

 outer much shorter. Florets all ligulate^ very numerous, yellow. Anther-cells 

 tailless. Achenes oblong-ovate or fusiform, 4-.5-ribbed, compressed, muricate 

 above, the apex produced into a long slender beak. Pappus-hairs simple, in 

 many series. Perennial scapigerous herbs, with copious milky juice. Leaves 

 all radical, entire or pinnatifid. 



Species, about 25, distributed through all temperate countries. Regarded by many botanists 

 as forms of one variable plant. 



Name, from the Greek, in reference to its properties as an alterative. 



