Crepis.~\ 
XXXIX. COMPOSITj’E. 
165 
broad, like those of Taraxacum ; involucral scales linear, broader at the base, 
with obtuse black tips, glabrous or cottony and covered with black glandular 
bristles. Pappus hairs almost simple. Achene short, glabrous, compressed, 
ribbed. 
Middle Island : Totara-nui, or Queen Charlotte’s Sound, Banks and Solander ; open 
hillsides in the Southern Alps, Canterbury plains, ascending to 3000 ft., Sinclair and Haast ; 
Tuapeka ranges, Otago, Lindsay ; lake district, Hector and Buchanan. A very curious 
plant, not well according with any described genus, alluded to as Hieracium fragile. Banks 
and Solander, in the N. Z. Flora, i. 153. 
22. TARAXACUM, Juss. 
Herbs with milky juice and perennial roots. Leaves all radical, spreading, 
pinnatifid or lobed. Scapes single-headed, hollow. — Involucre of long, erect, 
herbaceous scales, the outer shorter and usually reflexed. Receptacle naked. 
Plorets all ligulate. Pappus soft, white, of many series of extremely fine un- 
equal hairs. Achene long, ribbed, tapering into a slender filiform beak; 
the libs muricate or toothed. 
A genus of probably only one species (the “Dandelion”), which varies very greatly, aud 
is found in all parts of the temperate world. 
1. T. Dens-leonis, Desf. — FI. N. Z. i. 152. An extremely variable 
weed. Root stout, dark-coloured, bitter. Leaves toothed, sinuate, pinnatifid 
or runciuate, rarely entire, narrow, linear-obovate, 2-5 in. long, round at the 
tip. Scapes 2-8 in., leafless, glabrous or pubescent, or woolly above. Heads 
1— 1-g- in. broad, yellow. Involucre green ; scales with membranous edges, 
often thickened at the tip, reflexed after flowering. Achene spreading, the 
pappus hairs diverging and forming a circle round the top of its beak. 
Northern and Middle Islands : in various places, ascending the mountains to 5000 
ft., Banks and Solander, etc. Very variable in foliage and stature, the larger forms are 
probably introduced with cultivation ; the smaller are certainly indigenous. 
23. PICRIS, Linn. 
Erect, hispid, leafy herbs, with milky juice. — Heads corymbose. Invo- 
lucre campanulate ; scales in 2 or 3 series, outer often recurved. Florets all 
ligulate, yellow. Receptacle naked. Pappus of 1 series of soft, white, plu- 
mose hairs. Achene turgid below, narrowed above, with tubercled ridges. 
A small European genus, of which one species abounds in many parts of the world. 
1. P. hieracioid.es, Linn.; — FI. N. Z. i. 151. Hispid or pilose. 
Stem 2-4 ft. high. Root-leaves petioled, linear-oblong, obtuse, toothed; 
cauline smaller, sessile, linear, acuminate. Peduncles slender, pedicels bracte- 
ate. Heads in. long; involucral scales hispid and pubescent. 
Northern Island: dry hills, Bay of Islands, etc. A very common plant in Europe, 
some parts of Tasmania, Australia, and various other parts of the world. 
24. SORCHUS, Linn. 
Tall leafy herbs, usually with hollow stems and milky juice. Leaves alter- 
nate. — Heads corymbose, cylindric or ovoid. Involucral scales imbricate, 
green, herbaceous, connivent after flowering. Receptacle naked. Florets all 
