180 
COMPOSITE, 
[ Lactuca . 
terete. Achenes broad, glabrous, flattened, with a distinct beak and 
a long pappus of copious soft fine simple hairs. — Herbs with milky 
juice, alternate often compound leaves, and numerous heads in lax 
panicles. Distrib. Mainly north temperate. Species 60. 
1. L. indica, Linn. ; DC. Prod. vii. 136. A robust glabrous annual 
or biennial, 4-6 feet high. Leaves radical and many below the inflor- 
escence, sessile, not sagittate at the base, nor auricled, 4-6 in. long, 
lanceolate, mostly runcinate, with deep spreading linear lobes ; upper 
entire. Heads in a long narrow panicle with short ascending laxly 
racemose slender branches. Involucre \ in. long ; scales 3-serial, inner 
much the longest, lanceolate ; outer oblong, obtuse. Mowers about 30 
in a head, yellow. Achenes ± in. long, nearly black, obovate-oblong, 
with a distinct beak ; pappus ^ in. long, of copious fine soft white hairs. 
L. mauritiana, Poir. ; DC. Prod. vii. 141. 
Mauritius and Seychelles, on banks and roadsides, frequent. Also East 
Indies and Madagascar. Lastron. Laitron. 
23. SOJMCHUS, Linn. 
Heads of numerous yellow flowers, all ligulate and perfect. In- 
volucre campanulate ; scales 2-3-serial, lanceolate, herbaceous, imbri- 
cated. Receptacle flat, naked. Anthers sagittate at the base, minutely 
tailed ; style-arms terete. Achenes minute, oblong, compressed, with 
3 ribs on each face, not beaked pappus of copious soft white hairs, 
caducous in a ring. — Herbs, with milky juice and alternate membranous 
leaves, the heads in lax terminal corymbs. Distrib. Originally Old 
World, some species now cosmopolitan. Species 20-30. 
Auricles of stem-leaves acute. Achenes rough . . . . 1. S. oleraceus. 
Auricles of stem-leaves rounded. Achenes smooth . . . 2. S. aspee. 
1. S. oleraceus, Linn, ex parte. An annual weed, 2-3 feet high, with 
stout subglabrous sulcate stems. Basal leaves petioled, \ foot long, 
runcinate-pinnate, with a large deltoid acute terminal and smaller side 
lobes, repand and irregularly sharply toothed; stem-leaves sessile, 
clasping, with a deep acute auricle. Heads in a lax corymb. Involucre 
campanulate, \ inch long ; scales lanceolate, persistent, thin. Achenes 
pale brown, glabrous, -fa in. long, oblanceolate, with three distinct ribs, 
which like the interspaces are rugose- scabrous. S. ciliatus, Lam . ; DC. 
Prod. vii. 185. S. Royleanus, DC. 
Mauritius and Rodriguez, common in waste places. Cosmopolitan. Lastron . 
2. S. asper, Till. Delph. iii. 158. Habit exactly of the last, but 
leaves less compound, with longer sharper teeth and firmer texture 
those of the stem with a rounded auricle. Achenes bordered and 
marked on the face with three distinct ribs, both ribs and interspaces 
smooth. S. fallax, Wall. ; DC. Prod. vii. 185. S. eryngioides, DC. 
loc. cit. 
Mauritius, equally common with the last and also now a cosmopolitan 
weed, originating doubtless in the temperate regions of the Old World. Lattron. 
