COMPOSITE FAMILY. 



205 



means of the pappus. The plant is medicinal, and is popular as a 

 remedy in diseases of the liver. The leaves are used as a pot-herb, or 

 " greens," and the young radical leaves, when blanched, are said to 

 make a good substitute for Endive. 



32. LACTU'CA, Tournef. Lettuce. 



[Latin, Lac, milk ; in reference to its milky juice.] 



Heads few, or several-flowered. Involucre subcylindrical ; scales in 2 - 

 4 series, — the outer ones shorter and broader. Akcnes flatly obcom- 

 pressed, wingless, abruptly produced into a filiform beak. Pappus in 

 several series of soft white hairs. Leafy-stemmed caulescent herbs. 

 Heads of flowers paniculate or corymbose. 



1. L. Scario'la, var. sati'va, Moris. Stem corymbosely branching, 

 leafy ; radical leaves erect, oval, narrowed at base, wavy, — the cauline 

 ones cordate, amplexicaul. 

 Garden Lettuce. Salad. 



Fr. La Laitue. Germ. Der Salat. Span. Leohuga. 



Plant smooth, mostly yellowisli green and glaucous, — sometimes fuscous and tinged with 

 dark purple. Koot annual. Stem 2-4 foot high ; branches clothed with numerous small 

 leaves. Heads numerous, terminal, small. Inner scales of the involucres lanceolate, — the 

 outer or lower ones ovate. Florets yellow. Ahenes lance obovate, striate-ribbed, about 

 half as long as the filiform beak. 



Gardens : cultivated. Native country uncertain, — probablj" India. J7. July. IV. Aug. 



Obs. This plant — called salad, par excellence — is almost universally 

 known, and cultivated. Those forms known as Curled and Head Salad, 

 formerly considered as distinct species, are now believed to be mere 

 varieties of the above. The milky juice with which the plant abounds 

 at flowering time is very bitter, and possesses narcotic properties ; col- 

 lected and dried, it forms the Lactucarium of the shops, which is some- 

 times used as a substitute for Opium. There is a native species (L. 

 elonga'ta, Muhl.) frequently to bo met with, on the farm ; but it is 

 scarcely of sufficient importance to be entitled to notice, here. 



33. SON'CHUS, L. Sow-thistle. 



• [Ancient Greek name of obscure meaning.] 



Heads many-flowered, tumid at base. Scales of involucre more or less 

 inbricated. Akenes compressed, ribbed, not beaked ; pappus copious, 

 of very white, soft, fine silky hairs, smoothish and glaucous herbs; 

 florets yellow. 



1. S. olera'ceus, L. Leaves runcinate-pinnatifid, dentate, sagittate and 

 clasping ; akenes transversly rugose. 

 Common Sow-thistle. 



Annual. Stem 2-3 feet high, branched, hollow, tender, glandular-pilose above. Leaves 

 3-8 inches long, — the lower ones runcinate, on petiole 1-2 inches in length, — upper ones 

 clasping. Heads of flowers in terminal and axillary cymose panicles ; peduncles thickish. 



