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264 THE COMPOSITE FAMILY. _ _[Sonchus. 
1, S. arvensis, Linn. (fig. 590). Corn Sowthistle.—Rootstock creep- 
ing. Stems 2 to 3 feet high. Leaves long, pinnatifid or sinuate, the lobes 
lanceolate or triangular, more or less curved downwards, and bordered by 
small prickly teeth ; the lower ones stalked, the upper ones clasping the 
stem with short, broad auricles. Flower-heads large, of a bright yellow, . 
in loose terminal panicles; the branches, peduncles, and involucres more or 
less hispid with brown or black glandular hairs. Achenes striated and trans- 
versely wrinkled, witha pappus of copious, white, silky hairs. 
A cornfield weed, extending over the whole of Europe and Russian Asia, 
except the extreme north. Common in Britain. F7, summer and 
autumn, 
2. S. palustris, Linn. (fig. 591). Marsh Sowthistle.—This has the 
large flowers, glandular hairs, and general habit of S. arvensis, but is a 
much taller plant; the rootstock scarcely creeps, and the leaves are narrow, - 
often 8 or 10 inches long, clasping the stem with long pointed auricles, and 
either undivided or with one or two pairs of long lanceolate lobes. 
In marshes, and the edges: of ponds and wet ditches. Said to have nearly © 
the geographical range of S. arvensis, but appears to be more confined to 
eastern Europe, and nowhere common. In Britain, very rare, the only 
certain localities being in the marshes of some of the eastern counties of 
England. 7. late summer, or autumn. 
3. S. oleraceus, Linn. (fig. 592). Common Sowthistle. An annual, 
with a rather thick hollow stem, 1 to.3 or even 4 feet high, perfectly gla- 
brous, except occasionally a very few stiff glandular hairs on the peduncles. 
Leaves thin, pinnatifid, with a broad, heart-shaped or triangular terminal 
lobe, bordered with irregular, pointed or prickly teeth, and a few smaller 
lobes or coarse teeth along the broad leafstalk ; the upper leaves narrow 
and clasping the stem with short auricles. Flower-heads rather small, ina 
short corymbose panicle, sometimes almost umbellate; the involucres 
remarkably conical after flowering. Florets of a pale yellow. Achenes 
flattened, with longitudinal ribs often marked with transverse wrinkles or 
asperities, the pappus of copious snow-white hairs. 
A weed of cultivation, so universally distributed over the globe, except 
perhaps some tropical districts, that the limits of its native country cannot 
now be fixed ; probably truly indigenous in Europe and central Asia. Very 
abundant in Britain. Fl. the whole season. WS. asper, Hoftm., or Prickly 
S., appears to be a marked variety, rather than a species, in which the 
longitudinal ribs of the achenes have not the transverse wrinkles. The 
leaves are usually darker in colour and less divided, but much more closely 
bordered with prickly teeth; and the auricles which clasp the stem are 
broader, rounded, and more prickly toothed ; none of these characters are, 
however, constant. It is almost always mixed with S. oleraceus, and in 
many places as abundant. 
XXXVI. TARAXACUM. DANDELION. 
Herbs, with a perennial rootstock, radical leaves, and radical peduncles, 
with single heads of yellow flowers. Involucres of several nearly equal, 
erect, inner bracts, and several imbricated or recurved outer ones. Recep- 
