COMPOSITE FAMILY 251 
1. L. autumnalis L. Scape usually branching, 5-15 in. high, 
bracted; peduncles enlarged above. Rootstock truncate. Heads 
1}—-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, erectinner scales, and a set of much shorter 
ones outside and at the base of the former ones. Akenes eylin- 
drical or spindle-shaped, with 4-5 rough ribs, the apex taper- 
ing into a bristle-hke beak which bears a short, broadly conical 
tuft of soft white hairs. 
1. T. officinale Weber. DanpeLion. Outer involucre reflexed; 
inner involuere closing over the head, after the flowers are withered, 
and remaining shut for some days, then opening and allowing the 
akenes to forma globular head. Root stout, bitter, medicinal. Young 
leaves eaten asa pot-herb (+ greens ’’) in spring —the plant often cul- 
tivated for the leaves by market-gardeners. 
XVIII. SONCHUS L. 
Annual or perennial. Leaves mostly toothed or pinnately 
cut, prickly margined. Heads in corymbs or panteles ; 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 Turstie. 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. Sprny Sow Tuistie. 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. 
