258 THE COMPOSITE FAMILY. [Picris. 



minutely hooked at the top, so as to cling to whatever they come in 

 contact with. Leaves lanceolate, the lower ones tapering into a stalk, 

 and often 6 inches or more long, the upper ones clasping the stem. 

 Peduncles rather long and stiff. Involucres scarcely 6 lines long. 

 Pappus of a dirty white, the hairs usually very feathery, except a few 

 of the outer ones of each achene. 



On roadsides, borders of fields, and waste places, in southern and 

 central Europe, as far as southern Scandinavia, in temperate Kussia 

 and central Asia, and now spread as a weed of cultivation to many 

 other parts of the world. Abundant in the greater part of England, 

 extending to Roxburgh in Scotland, absent from Ireland. Fl. summer 

 and autumn. 



XXXII. LEONTODON. HAWKBIT. 



Herbs, with a perennial stock, radical, spreading leaves, simple or 

 slightly branched, usually leafless flower- stems, and yellow flowers. In- 

 volucres of several nearly equal, erect, inner bracts, and 2 or 3 rows 

 of smaller outer ones. Receptacle without bracts between the florets. 

 Achenes more or less tapering at the top into a short beak, sometimes 

 scarcely perceptible. Pappus of all, or at least the central florets, com- 

 posed of feathery hairs. 



A genus not numerous in species, but abundantly spread over Europe 

 and Russian Asia. It was formerly united with Taraxacum, from which 

 it has been separated on account of the feathery pappus. 



All the achenes with a pappus of feathery hairs. 

 Hairy plant, with simple flower-stems. Pappus with an outer 



row of minute simple hairs 1. X. hispidus. 



Plant nearly glabrous. Flower-stems often divided, enlarged 

 under the flower-heads. All the hairs of the pappus of equal 



length 2. L. autumnalis. 



Achenes of the outer row of florets with a pappus of very short, 



simple hairs. Flower-stems simple 3. L. hirtus. 



1. L. hispidus, Linn. (fig. 582). Common E. — The whole plant more 

 or less hispid with erect, stiff, short hairs, often forked or stellate at the 

 top. Leaves long and narrow, coarsely toothed or pinna tifid. Peduncles 

 6 inches to a foot or more long, slightly swollen at the top, with a single 

 rather large flower-head. Bracts of the involucre narrow, and always 

 hispid, the inner row much longer than the outer ones. Achenes long, 

 striate, and transversely rugose, slightly tapering at the top, but seldom 

 distinctly beaked. Pappus of about a dozen brown, feathery hairs, about 

 as long as the achene, surrounded by 5 or 6 others not a quarter that 

 length. Apargia hispida, Willd. 



In meadows and pastures, very common in Europe, and eastward to 

 the Caucasus and the Ural, except in the extreme north. Abundant 

 in Britain, as far north as Glasgow and Forfar. FL the whole summer 

 and autumn. A nearly glabrous variety (L. hastilis), frequent on the 

 Continent, does not appear to have been found in Britain. 



2. L. autumnalis, Linn. (fig. 583). Autumnal H. — Habit nearly of 

 Hypochceris radicata, but with smaller flower-heads, and no scales 

 between the florets. Leaves long, narrow, and pinnatifid, with a few 

 narrow lobes, glabrous, or with a few long, stiff hairs. Flower-stems 



