COMPOSITE. 



485 



passing gradually iuto the inner, long, 

 narrow ones. Florets 6 to 10 or 12, of 

 a pale yellow. Achenes much flattened, 

 obovate-oblong, striated, varying in co- 

 lour from nearly white to nearly black, 

 with a slender beak about the length of 

 the achene. 



In dry or stony wastes, on banks and 

 roadsides, in central and southern Eu- 

 rope, extending over a great part of 

 central Asia. Thinly scattered in Bri- 

 tain, from southern England to the low 

 tracts in the south-east Highlands of 

 Scotland. Fl. summer. The name of 

 L. Scar tola is often limited to the va- 

 rieties with more erect leaves, with 

 deeper and narrower lobes ; and those 

 with broader leaves, toothed only, and 

 not so glaucous, have been considered 

 as a distinct species, under the name of 

 L. virosa (Eng. Bot. t. 1957). 



Fig. 581. 



3. Willow Lettuce. Lactuca saligna, 



(Eng. Bot. t. 707.) 



Very near the prickly L., but more 

 slender and twiggy ; the leaves upright 

 against the stem, and narrower ; the 

 stiff panicles with branches so short that 

 the flower-heads appear clustered in a 

 simple spike ; and the beak of the 

 achene from twice to three times its own 

 length. These characters are however 

 so variable as to occasion some doubt 

 whether the two species are really dis- 

 tinct. 



The commonest form in the Medi- 

 terranean and Caucasian regions, ex- 

 tending to some parts of central Europe. 

 Bare in Britain ; most certainly recorded 

 from the banks of the Thames in Kent. 

 Fl. summer. 



ie. 58S 



Fig. 582. 



