( *33 ) 
numerous genera comprifed under this head* 
the receptacle is the firft mark of diftinction ; 
that part of fructification in the dandelion is 
naked, or clear from either down or chaff ; 
the calyx is imbricated with loofe fcales ; a 
eircumftance found in this genus only : the 
plant, therefore, is leontodon. There is, how- 
ever, another character which ought to be 
attended to ; this is the pappus. The diftinc- 
tion betwixt plumed and hairy may require 
fome explanation. The pappus of feeds in 
the compound flowers is either formed of 
fimple hairs, or of hairs fet with other finer 
hairs. In the former cafe the pappus is called 
hairy ; in the latter plumy, or feathery: the 
pappus of artichoke (cy'nara) is hairy. In 
the leontodon the pappus, " plumy ftiped," 
or fixed upon a Ihort foot-ftalk, is an efTential 
character of the genus ; though, not being the 
only one, is not of fo much confequence. In 
dandelion (leontodon taraxacum) this mark is 
not found ; and in the obfervations beneath 
the generic characters, in the Genera Planta- 
rum, this deficiency is remedied, and alfo 
fome peculiarities in a few other lpecies, 
which might have feparated them from their 
genus with as much propriety as the taraxacum 
K 3 has 
