Fig. 43.—Sowthistle. (Sonchus oleraceus.)
The plants contained in this tribe bear more or less resemblance to the common Succory (Cichorium Intybus). This beautiful plant, which is found in great abundance wild in many of the sandy and chalky districts of England, has large bright blue flowers, which when examined will be found to consist of a number of florets, all of the kind called ligulate, that is somewhat like a cornet of paper; the upper part being broad and flat, and serrated at the edge. The pappus in this genus is very short, and it is scaly rather than feathery. The leaves are bitter, and when broken give out a milky juice; and the fleshy roots when roasted are used to adulterate coffee. The Endive is a variety of this species, or another species of the same genus. The Sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus) abounds in the same milky juice as the succory, and has the same kind of fleshy root. The flower is composed of a scaly involucre (shown at a in fig. 43) and a number of ligulate florets (see b), which when they fall show the pappus (c), forming a feathery ball. The manner in which the pappus is attached to the seed-vessel is shown at (d); and the receptacle after the florets have been pulled out, but with the involucre still
Fig. 44.—Seed of the Dandelion. attached to it, at (e). A detached floret is shown at (f). The Dandelion (Leontodon Taraxacum) differs from the Sowthistle: in its florets, which are flatter and looser; in its receptacle, which is globular; and above all, in its pappus, which is what is called stipitate or stalked, that is, the tubular part of its calyx rises to a considerable height above the capsule, before it becomes divided into its feathery segments, as shown in fig. 44. The leaves of this plant are what is called runcinate, that is, the lobes into which they are cut point downwards towards the root instead of upwards from it, and the root is also fleshy. The Lettuce, Salsafy or Goat’s-beard, Ox-tongue, Hawkweed, Cat’s-ear, Nipplewort or Swine’s Succory, and many other well-known plants, belong to this tribe.
TRIBE II.—CYNAROCEPHALÆ.
Florets tubular. Juice watery, tonic.
The plants in this division all bear more or less relation to the common Artichoke (Cynara Scolymus). The scales of the involucre are generally fleshy at the base, but terminate outwardly in a sharp hard point. The florets are tubular, and intermixed with them in the receptacle are frequently found the hardened bracts, which in this state are called paleæ, and which appear to be of a chaffy substance, as exemplified in the choke of the Artichoke, the fleshy receptacle being in this plant what we call the Artichoke bottom. This peculiar formation is shown more in detail in fig. 45, which represents