440 COMPOSITE. Troximon. 



Var. Kymaplelira, Greene, 1. c. Outermost and sometimes all of the akenes thicker 

 and blunter or truncately obtuse by the development of the ribs into wings, which become 

 sinuously undulate, covering the whole surface. — M. (Kymapleura) heterophyttus, Nutt. 1. c., 

 changed in corrig. to Kymapleura heterophylla. — Common in California, with other forms. 



Var. Cryptopleura, Greene, 1. c. Some marginal akenes becoming utricular 

 and lightly nerved, enlarging to almost a line in diameter. — Cryptopleura Californica, Nutt. 

 1. c. — With other forms, less common. 



231. TARAXACUM, Haller. Dandelion, i. e. Dent de Lion. (Ta- 

 pao-o-u), to stir up, alluding to medicinal virtues.) — Perennials, of the northern 

 hemisphere, sending up in spring, from a rosulate cluster of runcinate-pinnatifid or 

 lyrate radical leaves, naked fistulous scapes, which elongate with and after anthesis 

 of the showy head of yellow flowers : involucre reflexed at maturity of the fruit, 

 which, with the expanded pappus, raised on the elongated beak, is displayed in a 

 globose body. The common and only North American, but very polymorphous 

 species, is the following. 



T. officinale, Weber. Root vertical : leaves from spatulate-oblong to lanceolate, from 

 irregularly dentate to runcinate-pinnatifid : akenes oblong-obovate or narrower, squamulose or 

 spinellose-muricate toward the summit, abruptly contracted into a conical or pyramidal apex, 

 which is prolonged into a filiform beak of twice or thrice the length of the akene. In the 

 ordinary form of the fields the involucral bracts are obscurely or not at all corniculate, and 

 the calyculate bracts are linear, elongated, and recurved ; leaves usually lobed. — Weber (not 

 Wiggers) Prim. PI. Hoist. 56; Vill. Dauph.; Koch, PI. Germ., &c. T. Dens-leonis, Desf. 

 PI. Atl. ii. 228 ; DC. Prodr. ; Torr. & Gray, PI. ii. 494. Leontodon Taraxacum, L. L. offici- 

 nalis, Withering. L. vulgare, Lam. — Common everywhere in fields and yards, an intro- 

 duction from Europe: perhaps nowhere here indigenous, but it comes even from Modoc 

 Co., California. (Eu., Asia, &c.) 



Var. alpinum, Koch. Outer involucral bracts ovate to broadly lanceolate, spread- 

 ing, none conspicuously corniculate. — Leontodon alpinus, Hoppe. Taraxacum latilobum, DC. 

 Prodr. vii. 494 t — Labrador to Brit. Columbia, and southward along higher mountains to 

 Colorado, Utah, and California. 



Var. glaucescens, Koch. Outer involucral bracts lanceolate to linear, loosely 

 ■erect or spreading, inner ones and sometimes outer with a corniculate appendage below the 

 tip : leaves generally glaucescent. — T. corniculatum and T. ceratophorum, DC. 1. c. Leontodon 

 ceratophorum, Ledeb. Ic. El. Alt. t. 34. — Unalaska, &c. (Adj. Asia, Greenland.) 



Var. lividum, Kocn. Outer involucral bracts ovate to ovate-lanceolate, all apt to be 

 dark-colored in drying, obscurely or not at all corniculate : leaves from denticulate to runci- 

 nate-dentate, sometimes pinnatifid. — T. palustre, DO, &c. T. lanceolatum, Poir. T. mon- 

 lanum, Nutt. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. vii. 430, not Meyer & DC. Leontodon licidus, Walds. & 

 Kit. — Rocky Mountains, south to New Mexico, north to Arctic coast and islands, and the 

 Aleutian Islands, in various forms. (N. Asia, Eu., Greenland.) 



Var. SCOpulorum. Minute : leaves and scape an inch or less long : head 3 or in fruit 

 even 5 lines high, narrow, few-flowered : outer involucral bracts lanceolate, rather loose; 

 inner somewhat corniculate. — T. Imvigatum, Gray, Proc. Acad. Philad. 1863, 70. — Highest 



, alpine region of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, Hall & Harbour, Brandegee. 



T. phymatocArfum, J. Vahl in Fl. Dan. t. 2297, of Greenland, is near var. lividum, but 



the akene is broad and its beak shorter. 



232. PYRRHOPAPPUS, DC. (lino's, flame-colored, xottttos, pappus.) 

 — Atlantic N. American and adjacent Mexican herbs ; with leafy or sometimes 

 scapiform stems, undivided or pinnatifid leaves, and rather large slender-peduncu- 

 late heads of golden yellow flowers, produced in late spring and summer. Prin- 

 cipal bracts of the involucre always more or less corniculate behind the tip, in 

 the manner of certain forms of Dandelion. — Prodr. vii. 144 (excl. S. African 

 sp.) ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 495- Benth. & Hook. Gen. ii. 523. 



