Liiduca. COMPOSITiE. 443 



•1— -1— Involucre more imbricated, crtTOiiionly three-fourths inch high; outermost and intermediate 

 bracts ovate and ovate-lanceolate. 



L. Ludoviciana, DC. Glabrous, leafy to the open panicle, 2 to 5 feet high : leaves all 

 oblong and auriculate-chi?iiing, 3 or 4 inclies long, sinuate-pinnatifid, .-omewhat i-pimilo,sely 

 deutate, more or less bristly-ciliate, more or less hispidulous-setose on the midrib beneath : 

 peduncles squamose-bracteolate : flowers yellow : akeues oblong-oval, about equalled by the 

 filiform beak. — Prodr. vii. 141; Turr. & Gray, I.e. Sonchus LuiUwicianus, Xutt. Gen. ii. 

 125. Giilatheninm LaiJui-iriauiim, Xutt. Trans. Am. Phil. Soe. 1. c. — >Ioist or drv liauks of 

 lakes and streams, Dakota, Xnilall, Gr<jfr. Iowa, Arthur. Black Hills of the Piatte, //«/,- 

 den. Eio Limpio, S. \V. Texas, Bigtlou:. 



§ 2. Lactcc^steuji. Akenes lanceolate-oblong, flat, marginless, tapering 

 into a beak nearly like that of the preceding section, but not longer than the 

 breadth of the body : root perennial : involucre well imbrieatcil, glabrous. 



Xj. pulcliella, DC. A foot or two high, very glabrous, glaucest-ent, leafy up to the open 

 corymbiform panicle : leaves from linear-lanceolate to narrowly oblong, entire or runcinate- 

 dentate, or some lower ones piuuatifid ; caulinc sessile, with base not auriculate-clasping, dis- 

 posed to be vertical : branches of the loose panicle and peduncles squamose-bracteolate : 

 involucre two-thirds inch high, l.")-20-flowered; its outer bracts ovate-lanceolate: flowers 

 bright blue or violet-purple : akenes barely 2 lines long, striate-nervose ; the tip of short 

 beak soft and usually whitish. ^ Prodr. vii. 1.34; Gray, Bot. Cahf. i. 442. L. integrifolia, 

 Xutt. Gen. 1. c, not Bigel. Som-hus pulchellus, Pursh, Fl. ii. 502. .S' S'biricus, Kichards. ; 

 Hook. Fl. i. 29.3, not L. MulgecUum pnlchellum, Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 4;i7. M. pukhc-llum & 

 M. heterophijlhim, Xutt. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. vii. 441. — Alluvial ground. Upper JUichigau 

 to the Hudson's Bay region in lat.'60°, south to X'ew Jlexico, west to Brit. Columbia and 

 mountains of X'evada and adjacent California. 



§ 3. MuLGEDic:^!. Akenes thickish, oblong, with some strong ribs and nerves, 

 contracted at summit into a stout short beak mainly of the texture of the body, 

 or into a mere (even obscure) neck under the dilated pappiferous apex : involucre 

 (glabrous, l,'j-2.5-flowered) and habit of § Scan'oht. or more branching: glabrous 

 biennials or annuals, with or without some hairs or weak bristles on the mid- 

 rib and veins beneath, commonly with bluish flowers. — Here characterized for 

 the American species only of Midgedium, Cass. (Agathyrsus, Don), leaving the 

 older name, Clcerhita, "U'allr., for the Old AVorld species of less affinity to true 

 Lactuca. 



# FlnwcT"! lisht blue: pappus briffht white: cauline leaves on margined or winged petioles, not 

 clasping m.r auriculate at insertion : heads loosely paniculate. 

 L. Floridana, G-rurx. Stem 3 to 7 feet high : leaves deeply l.vrate-pinnatifld ; lobes 

 'simply or doubly dentate, lateral ones ovate, terminal dilated-deltoid and acuminate : invo- 

 lucre half-inch long • akenes acuminate into a manifest beak. — Gartn. Fract. ii. 262, name, 

 but the akenes fii^ured, t. 15S, probably from herb. Banks, are of L. leucophcea. Sonchus 

 Fhridanns L. Sp°ec. ii.' 795 ; WiUd. !:^pec. iii. 1520; Michx. Fl. ii, 85, in part; EU. Sk. ii. 

 005 ildgedium luratum, Cass. Diet, xxxiii. 297. .1/. Floridanum, DC. Prodr. vii. 249; 

 Torr & Grav Fl ii 498, excl. vars. ^(7a%rsHS F/onrfanus, Beck, Bot. 1 7 1 . Galathenium 

 Floridanum, 'i,utt. Trans.' Am. Phil. Soc. 1. c. 443.- Alluvial ground and along streams, 

 Penn. to Illinois, Florida, and Texas. 

 L acuminata Ge^t. Leaves from ovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, acuminate at both 

 "ends or cauline not rarelv sagittate or hastate, sharply and sometimes doubly serrate, occa. 

 sionaDv some of the lower cleft at base, forming a pair of lateral lobes : mvolucre 5 Imes 

 hish • akenes beakless and with hardly a neck : otherwise nearly like the preceding. -Proc. 

 Am Acad xix 73 L. rillosa, Jacq. Hort. Schojnbr. iii. t. 367 ; Beck, Bot. 170, but the plant 

 mosth- glabrous or nearly so. Sunchus acuminatus, Willd^ Spec. iii;^1521 ; Ell. 1. c. S. 

 Fhridanns, -Michx. 1. c, in part. 2Iulgedium acuminntnm, DC. 1. c; Torr. & Gray, 1. c — 

 Borders of woodlands, Xew York to Illinois and Florida. 



