286 
LII. COMPOSITE 
56. PRENANTHES. From the Greek prenes, drooping, and 
anthos, a flower ; referring to the heads. — N. temperate regions. 
Erect herbs ; juice milky. Leaves alternate. Heads ligulate, 
slender, pendulous. Involucre narrowly cylindric ; bracts in few 
series, thin, green, inner ones long, narrow, nearly equal ; outer 
few, much smaller ; receptacle flat, naked ; flowers 3-8 in a head, 
purple or white ; pappus white or pale brown, not feathery : 
ligules long, spreading, 5-toothed ; style-arms long. Achenes 
oblong, glabrous, angled, crowned with a pappus-bearing disk, not 
beaked. — Ripe achenes are necessary to distinguish this genus 
from Lactuca. 
Stems 1-6 ft. Heads numerous, panicled. Leaves of 
various shapes . . . . . . . . 1. P. Brunoniana. 
Stems 12-1 8 in. Heads few, solitary, long -stalked. Leaves 
always triangular . . . . . . 2. P. violcefolia. 
1. Prenanthes Brunoniana, Wall. ; FI. Br. Ind. iii. 411. 
Smooth or rough, sometimes glandular especially on the inflor- 
Fig. 86. Prenanthes Brunoniana. 
escence and nerves of the leaves ; stems 1-6 ft., simple or 
branched. Leaves of various shapes ; stalks long or short, 
