P^licaria.] composite. 355 



IX. PuLicABiA, G<Brtn. Fleabane. 



" Achenes somewhat terete. Pappus double : outer row short, 

 membranous ; inner pilose, rough. Receptacle naked. Involucre 

 hemispherical, closely imbricated with numerous scales. Anthers 

 with bristles at their base. {Flowers yellow." — Br. Fl. 



1. P. dysenterica, Gfertn. Common Fleabane. Leaves oblong 

 cordate or sagittate amplexicaul crenato- denticulate wrinkled and 

 downy, stem woolly corymbose, bracts of the involucre subulate 

 shorter than the rays, inner pappus as long as the florets, achenia 

 ribbed angular. Br. FL p. 241. Inula, L. : E. B. t. 1115. 



In moisl situations along roadsides, lanes, and open grassy places in woods, on 

 ditch-banks, and in damp pastures ; abundantly in most parts of the island. Fl. 

 Julv — September. Fr. October, November. !(.. 



Root perennial, whitish and woody, branched, and creeping horizontally, with 

 several long stout fibres and fleshy scaly runners. Stems erect, from I to 2^ feet 

 in height, very leafy, solid, rounded, slightly angular, nearly simple in small spe- 

 cimens, copiously and alternately branched in a corymbose manner above, or often 

 nearly from the base in larger plants, covered with a copious cottony down. Leaves 

 numerous, alternate, 1 or 2 inches long, those of the stem broader and mostly 

 spreading, of the branches narrower and more erect ; oblongo-lanceolate, dull 

 green, venoso-rugose, soft and downy, somewhat cottony beneath, cordate or sagit- 

 tato-amplexicaul and dilated at their base, with rounded or acute auricles, that, 

 like the crenato-denlioulate and undulated margins of the leaf, are mostly deflexed. 

 Flowers about an inch in diameter, bright golden yellow, solitary or subpaniculate 

 at the extremity of the stem and branches, their peduncles thickened upwards^ 

 hollow, and covered with a cottony web. Involucre subhemispherical, its bracts 

 very numerous, imbricated, linear-subulate, plane and membranous, pale with a 

 green centre, hairy, somewhat jagged and ciliated on their margins, glabrous and 

 shining on their inner side, the outer ones densely woolly, lax, with recurved tips. 

 Florets of the circumference very numerous, in several rows, with moderately long,^ 

 spreading, ligulate, 3-toothed rays, the tube slender and glabrous. Receptacle 

 nearly plane, rough with the sharp jagged edges of the deep alveoli. Achenium 

 brownish, oblong, angular, straight, strongly ribbed, the ridges rough in their 

 upper part with short erect bristles. Pappus double, the outer one membranous, 

 cup-shaped, very short, its margin laciniato-deutate ; inner pilose, rough, about 

 as long as the floret, tawny-brown when ripe. 



The odour of the bruised herbage is justly compared by Sir James Smith to 

 that of peaches, and is quite different from the bitter smell of the flowers and the 

 hot pungent flavour of the root. 



2. P. vulgaris, Gsertn. Small Fleabane. Leaves lanceolate 

 nearly entire waved and hairy somewhat clasping, stem much 

 branched downy, florets of the circumference with extremely 

 short rays scarcely longer than the subulate involucral bracts, 

 inner pappus much shorter than the florets, achenium terete. 

 Br. Fl. p. 241. Inula Pulioaria, L. : .E. .B. t. 1196. 



In moist spots where water has stood during winter, on village-greens, and 

 about farm-houses in places trodden by cattle ; not very frequent. Fl. July — 

 September. 0. 



E. Med. — Plentiful on St. Helen's green. 



W. Med. — Walpen farm. 



Six inches to a foot or more in height. Root annual, very long and tapering, 

 with scarcely any fibres. Stem erect, copiously and repeatedly branched, rounded. 



