Sonchus.] coMPOsiTjE. 985 



lanceolate acute scales and the bracts of the inner scales and the 

 peduncle hispid with rigid simple bristles." — Bab. Man. 



In cultivated fields, chiefly with clover or lucerne : rare, and certainly intro- 

 duced. O. ' ' J 



E. Med.— In a clover-field at Wootton, between the Newport road and the new 

 cut to Cowes, in abundance, 1846, Dr. Bell-Sailer. 



W. Med. — In a clover-field near Gurnet farm, sparingly, 184& ; no doubt 

 introduced with clover-seed from the Continent, in the southern and eastern (Si- 

 lesia) parts of which only it appears to be truly native, Dr. Bell-Sailer .'.'.' 



XXXVIII. SoNCHus, Linn. Sow Thistle. 



" Achenes much compressed, without a beak. Pappus pilose. 

 Receptacle naked. Involucre imbricated, with 2 — 3 rows of une- 

 qual at length connivent scales, tumid at the base, few-flowered." 

 ~Br. Fl. 



1. S. oleraceus, L. Common Sow Thistle. " Heads subumbel- 

 late, involucre glabrous, leaves undivided or pinnatifid toothed, 

 lower ones stalked, upper ones lanceolate clasping the stem with 

 spreading sagittate auricles, fruit longitudinally ribbed and trans- 

 versely rugose." — Br. Fl. p. 205. E. B. t. 843. 



In waste and cultivated places, garden-ground, about hedges, roadsides, in 

 woods, fields, &c. ; everywhere. FL June — October. 0. 



2. S. asper, Hoffm. Sharp -fringed Annual Sow Thistle. 

 " Heads subumbellate, involucre glabrous, leaves undivided or 

 pinnatifid deeply toothed all lanceolate clasping the stem with 

 rounded auricles, stem branched, fruit longitudinally ribbed with- 

 out transverse wrinkles." — Br. Fl. p. 206. E. B. Suppl. tt. 2765 

 and 2766. 



In similar places with the last, and nearly as common. Fl. June — September- 



Notwithstanding the opinion of many botanists of the first rank, we cannot help 

 believing, with Mr. Borrer and numerous continental authors, that S. asper is 

 truly distinct from <S. oleraceus ; our opinion being founded on the permanency of 

 character in a part less liable to accidental variation, viz. the seed ; nor would we 

 rtjecl the scarcely less immutable marks derived from the peculiarly curled or 

 rounded auricles of the leaves, like the volutes on the chapter of a Corinthian or 

 Ionic column, very different from the acute arrow-shaped bases of the leaves in S. 

 oleraceus ; nor the fact of the root-leaves of S. asper being winged to their junc- 

 tion with the stem. 



3. S. arvensis, L. Corn Sow Thistle. " Heads corymbose, 

 peduncles and involucre glandulose - hispid, leaves denticulate 

 clasping the stem with short obtuse auricles, lower ones sinuate- 

 runcinate, uppeMsones oblong-lanceolate entire, stem simple, root 

 with creeping scions." — Br. FL p. 205. E. B. i. 674. 



In cultivated fields, amongst corn, &c., especially on a dampish soil. Fl. June 

 — September. 2^ . 



