COMPOSITE FAMILY 



291 



all radical, obovate, toothed or pinnatifid ; heads on scapes, 

 yellow ; bracts in 2 or 3 rows, the outer smaller ; receptacle flat, 

 naked ; fruit scarcely beaked, pappus of 1 or 2 rows of stiff hairs, 

 the inner feathery. (Name from he Greek Icon, a lion, odous, 

 odontos, a tooth, from the runcinate leaves.) 



1. L. hispidus (Rough Hawk-bit). — A similarly hispid plant, 

 often with forked hairs ; leaves cblong-lanceolate, runcinate ; 

 peduncles fewer, longer, more swollen above than in the preced- 

 ing, green; heads 1^ in. across, drooping when in bud, yellow. — 

 Meadows and waste places ; common. — Fl. June — September. 

 Biennial. 



2. L. autumndlis (Au- 

 tumn Hawk-bit). — A tall 

 plant, 2 — 3 feet high ; 

 leaves narrow, toothed or 

 pinnatifid, only hairy on 

 the ribs beneath ; scape 

 branched, bracteate, 

 swollen above ; heads 

 large, erect when in bud, 

 deep-yellow ; pappus of a 

 single row of brownish 

 feathery hairs. — Meadows 

 and cornfields ; abund- 

 ant. — Fl. July — Septem- 

 ber. Perennial. 



taraxacum officinale {Common Dandelion). 



45. Taraxacum (Dan- 

 delion). — Herbs with a 

 milky juice ; leaves all 

 radical, runcinate ; pedun- 

 cles hollow, leafless unbranched ; heads solitary, yellow; bracts 

 in 2 rows, the inner erect, the outer often recurved ; receptacle flat, 

 naked, pitted, becoming more convex in the fruit stage ; fruit 

 ribbed, with a long, slender beak ; pappus of white, silky, simple 

 hairs in many rows. (Name from the Greek, referring to its 

 medicinal character.) 



1. T. officinale (Common Dandelion). — A nearly glabrous plant, 

 with a long black tap-root, well distinguished by the above 

 characters, especially the runcinate leaves, smooth, hollow 

 peduncle, and reflexed outer bracts. The heads, when in fruit, be- 

 come globular, and are known to children, who amuse themselves 

 by blowing off the separate fruits, as What's o'clocks, or Clocks. 

 Dandelion, from the French Dent-de-lion, lion's tooth, is the name 

 u 2 



