LII. COMPOSITE 
287 
slender, naked or winged, their bases sometimes dilated or lobed ; 
blade 4-8 in. or more, lanceolate or triangular, cordate or trun- 
cate, toothed or sinuate, often pinnatifid with large or small, 
variously cut and toothed lobes. Heads in. long, in a ter- 
minal panicle ; flowers 3-5 in a head, purple or white. (Fig. 86.) 
Simla, common in woods ; August, September. — W. Himalaya, 6000- 
9000 ft. 
This species has the aspect of Lactuca hastata, but the heads are 3-5- 
instead of 10-30-flowered, and the achenes are without a beak. 
2. Prenanthes violaefolia, Decaisne ; FI. Br. Ind. iii. 412. 
Glabrous except a few hairs on the summit of the leaf-stalks ; 
stems slender, 12-18 in. Leaves triangular, 1-2 in. each way, 
entire or obscurely sinuate-toothed, cordate or the basal lobes 
acute ; stalks of the lower leaves with dilated base or a rounded, 
leaf-like, stem-clasping lobe. Heads in. long, few, solitary, 
long-stalked ; flowers 3-8 in a head, purple. 
Huttoo, rare ; September, October. — Kashmir to Kumaon, 9000-12,000 ft. 
57. SONCHUS. The classical name of Sonchus olemceus . — 
Temperate regions. 
Succulent, erect herbs ; juice milky ; stems hollow, grooved 
or angled. Leaves usually pinnately lobed or coarsely toothed : 
radical stalked ; upper alternate, stem-clasping, base lobed. 
Heads ligulate, many-flowered, in terminal panicles. Involucre 
ovoid ; bracts many, overlapping, green, outer ones smaller ; 
receptacle flat, naked ; flowers yellow ; pappus copious, white, not 
feathery ; ligules long, spreading, 5-toothed. Achenes flattened, 
oval, 3-5 -ribbed on each face, minutely transversely wrinkled, 
not beaked. 
Leaves hard ; teeth long, unequal, spinous . . . . 1. S. asper. 
Leaves thin ; teeth small, prickly, not spinous. 
Basal lobes of stem-leaves acute 2. S. oleraceus. 
Basal lobes of stem-leaves rounded . . . . 3. S. arvensis. 
1. Sonchus asper, Vill.; FI. Br. Ind. iii. 414. Glabrous or 
slightly glandular on the upper parts ; stems 2-3 ft., branched. 
Leaves hard, lanceolate or pinnatifid, 6-10 x 2-3 in., waved ; teeth 
numerous, long, unequal, divergent, spinous ; basal lobes recurved, 
rounded. Heads j-1 in. diam. 
Simla, in fields ; August.— Throughout India, ascending to 12,000 ft. — 
All temperate and many tropical regions ; Britain. 
Included under S. oleraceus in Bentham’s British Flora. 
2. Sonchus oleraceus, Linn . ; FI. Br. Ind. iii. 414. Glabrous 
or slightly glandular on the upper parts ; stems 2-3 ft., branched. 
Leaves thin, lanceolate or pinnatifid, 3-6 in. ; terminal lobe large, 
