Composite Jfamil^. 



Wild Lettuce. Lactuca liirswta- 



Found on waysides, and edges of thickets, in July. 



The simple leafy stalk grows to be 3 or 4 or 5 feet high ; it is 

 hollow, and large, with a strong fibre, a thick, milky and bitter juice, 

 and a tough skin whose surface is somewhat hairy. The color is 

 usually a dark purplish-red. 



The long leaf is deeply cut, or lobed, even almost to the wide 

 midrib, — the lobes pointing toward the base of the leaf, — the tip taper- 

 pointed ; the upper leaves are slightly or not at all lobed ; the surface 

 is smooth above, sometimes hairy on the underside of the midrib. The 

 arrangement is alternate, the leaves partly clasping the stalk. In color 

 a full green, the midrib of the lower leaves a dark reddish-purple. 



The minute flowers are collected in small heads, set in vase-shaped 

 green cups; their color varies from a light, dull lavender, to a dingy 

 white. The heads grow in branching clusters from the summit of the 

 stalk. 



The stout, tall, dark red stalk and broadly veined leaves make 

 this a conspicuous inhabitant of the roadside ; its small flowers however 

 do not seem to fulfil the promise put forth by this vigorous growth. 

 The dark brown, flattened seeds have fine, white, dandelion-like j)lumes. 



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