COMPOSITE FAMILY 251 
1. L. autumnalis L. Scape usually branching, 5-15 in. high, 
bracted; peduncles enlarged above. Rootstock truncate. Heads 
13-1 in. or more in diameter; involucre top-shaped or bell-shaped. 
Pappus of a single row of tawny hairs. Fields and roadsides, 
especially N.E. Naturalized from Europe. 
XVI. TARAXACUM Haller 
Stemless perennial or biennial herbs. Leaves in a flattish 
tuft, pinnately cut or runcinate. Head many-flowered, large, 
solitary, yellow, borne on a hollow scape, which is short at 
first but lengthens after flowering. Involucre composed of a 
single row of long, erect inner scales, and a set of much shorter 
ones outside and at the base of the former ones. Akenes cylin- 
drical or spindle-shaped, with 4-5 rough ribs, the apex taper- 
ing into a bristle-like beak which bears a short, broadly conical 
tuft of soft white hairs. 
1. T. officinale Weber. Danprzion. Outer involucre reflexed; 
inner involucre closing over the head, after the flowers are withered, 
and remaining shut for some days, then opening and allowing the 
akenes to form a globular head. Root stout, bitter, medicinal. Young 
leaves eaten as a pot-herb (* greens”) in spring — the plant often cul- 
tivated for the leaves by market-gardeners. 
XVII. SONCHUS L. 
Annual or perennial. Leaves mostly toothed or pinnately 
cut, prickly margined. Heads in corymbs or panicles ; bracts 
in several series, the outer shorter ; receptacle naked. Flowers 
yellow, rays truncate, 5-toothed at the apex. Akenes oval to 
oblong, compressed, ribbed, truncate at the apex; pappus of 
numerous soft white hairs.* 
1. S. oleraceus L. Sow TurstLE. Annual; stem erect, branched, 
smooth, 2-6 ft. high. Leaves spiny-toothed, the lower long-petioled, 
very irregularly cut or pinnatifid, the upper clasping by an eared 
base. Involucre downy when young. Akenes channeled and trans- 
versely wrinkled. In waste places on very rich soil.* 
2. S. asper Vill. Spiny Sow Tuistte. Annual; stem erect, 
smooth, branched but little, 2-6 ft. high. Leaves undivided, spatu- 
late to oblanceolate, fringed with spiny teeth; the lower narrowed 
into a petiole, the upper clasping by an eared base, the ears rounded. 
