488 



THE COMPOSITE FAMILY. 



tral Asia. Very abundant in Britain. 

 Fl. the whole season. The prickly S. 

 (S. aspera, Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2765 and 

 2766) appears to be a marked variety, 

 rather than a species, in which the longi- 

 gitudinal ribs of the achenes have not 

 the transverse wrinkles. The leaves are 

 usually darker in colour and less di- 

 vided, 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 the common S., and in many places 

 as abundant. 



Fig. 585. 



4. Alpine Sowthistle. Sonchus alpinus, Linn. (Fig. 586.) 



(S. cceruleus, Eng. Bot. t. 2425. Mulgedium, Brit. Fl.) 



im Stock perennial, with erect stems 2 to 

 3 feet high. Leaves much like those of 

 the common 8., but with a much larger, 

 broadly triangular, and pointed terminal 

 segment. Panicle oblong, almost nar- 

 rowed into a raceme, more or less hispid 

 with glandular hairs. Involucres nar- 

 row, of but few bracts, containing 12 to 

 20 deep-blue florets. Achenes oblong, 

 but slightly flattened ; the hairs of the 

 pappus of a dirty white, and rather 

 stiffer than in the other species. 



In moist, rocky situations, in northern 

 and Arctic Europe and Asia, limited in 

 central and southern Europe to moun- 

 tain-ranges. In Britain, only in the 

 Lochnagar and Clova mountains and 

 their vicinity, where it is now becoming 

 very rare. Fl. summer, rather late. The 

 differences in the pappus which have induced its separation as a genus, 



