P I c 
the inner calyx ciliate on the back. Corolla yellow ; feed 
fhining, of a red orange-colour, and when viewed with a 
glafs very beautiful from its numerous tranfverfe ftreaks 
or grooves; down the length of the inner calyx, on a 
ftipe three or four lines in length ; rays downy. The 
flower expands at four or five in the morning, and never 
clofes before noon ; fometimes it remains open till nine 
at night. It grows not unfrequently on banks, on the 
edges of corn-fields, and in woods that have been cut 
down; flowering in June and July. The only ufe to 
which this lingular plant has been applied is as a pot¬ 
herb, to which purpofe its appearance is certainly no 
recommendation. It can only be eaten when young, 
and then it is faid to be agreeable; the juice is milky, 
but not too acrid. 
2. Picris aculeata, or prickly ox-tongue : hifpid-rough; 
ftem naked at top; leaves obovate-oblong, unequally 
toothed ; flowers corymbed; peduncles thickened at 
top; down feathered, ftiped. It differs from the prece¬ 
ding in having no outer five-leaved perianth. Native of 
Barbary. Vahl found itnearZowan, a city of Tunis; 
and Desfontaines on Mount Atlas and uncultivated hills 
of that country. 
3. Picris hieracioides, or hawk-weed ox-tongue: 
perianths loofe; leaves entire; peduncles fcaly up to 
the calyx. This is a plant of rude growth, and not very 
attractive appearance. The root is perennial, or at lead 
biennial; ftem three feet high, round, furrowed, rough 
with ftiff hairs ; much branched ; the branches furrowed, 
purple on their upper fide and in their axils, as Linnaeus 
molt truly obferves. The herb is rough with hooked 
bridles. Peduncles branched; each branch bearing a 
fingle flower; the lateral ones elongated fo as to rife 
above the central ftem. Calyx fcarcely to be called 
double; numerous loofe fcales, all rough on the back, 
on the upper part of the peduncle approaching to, and 
at length imbricated with, and forming a part of, the 
calyx : the inner row almoft linear, parallel, and exadlly 
the length of the ieed-down, which is flightly feathery 
and feffile; whence Hudfon has made this plant an He- 
dypnois: but that, as Dr. Stokes has obferved, is an 
artificial genus, the fpecies of which are no ways natu¬ 
rally allied ; and the down being feffile or ftiped, affords 
no certain permanent character in this tribe. The co¬ 
rolla is bright yellow; and the feeds are longitudinally 
and tranfverfely furrowed. Native of many parts of 
Europe; with us it occurs abundantly about the borders 
of fields, in a gravelly or calcareous foil, flowering in 
July and Auguft. 
4. Picris Japonica, or Japanefe ox-tongue: perianths 
hifpid; leaves toothed,cordate-embracing; ftem grooved, 
hifpid. Stem grooved and angular, flexuofe, briftly- 
hifpid, branched at top, almoft ere£f, fcarcely a foot-high. 
Flowers on the branches terminating, folitary; calyx 
double, the lower reflex; corollas yellow, with a w-hite 
feathered down. Native of Japan. Thunb. in Linn. TranJ’. 
34 °. 
5. Picris afplenioides, or fpleenwort-leaved ox-tongue : 
Stem proftrate at the bafe ; leaves rough, the lower run- 
cinate; lobes rounded; calyxes imbricate; leaflets 
reflex at the tip. Root perennial, fufiform, thethicknefs 
of a man’s little finger. Stems feveral, proftrate at the 
bafe, rough-haired efpecially at bottom, angular grooved, 
branched below; branches afcending, fimple. Flower 
the fixe of Tragopogon Dalechampii: corollets fulphur- 
coloured above, rofe-violet underneath. Seed fmooth, 
rnfefcent, oblong, flightly ftreaked acrofs; down ftiped, 
feathered, white. Native of Barbary; found by Vahl 
abundantly on the fandy coaft of Tunis; and by Des¬ 
fontaines near Hamamelif. See L’Heritier’s defcription 
of this plant under Leontodon muricatum, vol. xii. 
p. 499, 500. 
. 6 . Picris repens, or creeping ox-tongue: outer pe¬ 
rianths imbricate, fhort; inner cylindric, eight-leaved, 
even; ftem creeping. Stem procumbent, llender, round, 
PIC 38 7 
fmooth. Flowers few, yellow, on long fcattered pedun¬ 
cles, almoft equal to the leaves. Root flender, very 
bitter. Native of China near Canton. 
7. Picris pauciflora, or few-flowered ox-tongue : ftem 
hairy; leaves lanceolate, feffile, toothed; flower-ftalks 
elongated, fwelling; calyx hairy, the outermoft lax. 
Native of the fouth of France and of Greece. It was 
raifed in Chelfea Garden in 1788, as well as in that of 
the late Dr. Gwyn at Ipfwich, from feeds given to Dr. 
Smith by M. Gerard. The root appears to be annual. 
Stem from eight to twenty-four inches high, more or lefs 
branched, fpreading, rough with fhort briftly cloven- 
pointed hairs, as is all the herbage. Flowers yellow, of 
an ordinary hawkweed afpeft, open in the morning only. 
Villars’s figure of his Hieracium pappoleucum is a very 
tolerable reprefentation of this plant, as Willdenow has 
likewife noted ; but fpecimens from the author himfelf 
prove very different from our Picris. Prodr. FI. Grcsc. 
1912. 
8. Picris ruderalis, or rock ox-tongue: ftem hifpid; 
leaves lanceolate, with fringe-like teeth; flower-ftalks and 
calyx hifpid, the outermoft fpreading. Found on rocks 
near Prague in Bohemia. Stems feveral, fix inches high, 
ereft, befet from top to bottom with axillary, diftant, 
very-hifpid, flower-ftalks. The flowers are finall, like 
Crepis tedlorum. Willdenow. 
9. Picris hifpida, or hifpid ox-tongue: leaves oblong- 
lanceolate, nearly entire, feffile, hifpid, as well as the 
calyx, with hairs barbed at the point. Native of the 
Levant. A fpecimen in the Bankfian Herbarium, it is 
faid, ihows this plant to have been cultivated before 
1789, in the gardens of England ; it is marked as a hardy 
perennial, flowering in July and Auguft. Dr. Smith 
“greatly fufpedts it to be no other than P. pauciflora, 
whofe pubefcence anfwers to the defcription, and which 
we believe was communicated to fir J. Banks, as well as 
to Kew-garden, in 1788 or 1789.” See Apargia, He- 
dypnos, Hieracium, Leontodon, and Tragopogon. 
PIC'RIUM, f. [from wntpo;, bitter, an appellation for 
which Schreber has exchanged the barbarous Coutoubea. 
of Aublet. Schreb. Gen. 791.] In botany, a genus of the 
clafs tetrandria, order monogynia, natural order of ro- 
tacese, (gentianse, Jujf.) Generic characters—Calyx : pe- 
rianthium one-leafed, four or five cleft, permanent; feg- 
ments linear, acute, ere£f. Corolla one-petalled, funnel- 
form ; tube the length of the calyx ; border four or five- 
cleft; feginents ovate, acute. Neftary : fcales four or 
five; each at the bafe of each filament, between that and 
the tube of the corolla. Stamina : filaments four or five, 
filiform, almoft the length of the corolla, inferted into the 
tube; antherae fagittate. Piftillum : germ oblong; ftyle 
filiform, longer than the corolla; ftigma capitate, bila- 
mellate. Pericarpium : capfule ovate, half-two-celled, 
two-valved. Seeds very many, minute, fattened to the 
receptacle.— EJJ'enlial Char after. Calyx fourorfive cleft; 
corolla one-petalled, four or five cleft; neCtary of four or 
five fcales; ftigma bilamellate; capfule half-two-celled, 
two-valved. There are but two fpecies. 
1. Picrium fpicatum : with ovate-oblong fharp leaves, 
and white flowers. This is an annual, of about three 
feet high. The root is fibrous, branched, and fomewhat 
woody; the ftem round and ftraight; leaves oppofite, 
rather flefhy, feffile, fmooth, glaucous, lanceolate, per- 
feftly entire, fometimes ternate, verticillate. Flowers 
fpiked, axillary, and terminal : the inferior ones oppofite 
in the fpike, afterwards alternate; the four uppermoft 
verticillate : all feffile at the bafe, and guarded by three 
braftes, of which the two lateral ones are fmaller; corolla 
white, not deciduous. The whole plant is bitter: it 
flowers at various times of the year. Its native name is 
Coutoubea. It is found near the banks of rivulets, path¬ 
ways, &c. in Cayenne and Guiana. 
2. Picrium ramofum: with narrow' fharp-pointed leaves, 
and purple flowers. Differs from the former in having a 
branched ftem, fmaller and narrower leaves: folitary 
3 flowers, 
