Flora Medica

nosa Lam.fi.fr.ii. 35. South of Europe, the Levant, Persia ;introduced into Chili.An annual branched woolly plant. Leaves amplexicaul, somewhatdecurrent, nearly entire, pinnated or deeply pinnatifid, more or lesshairy. Heads terminal, bracteate. Florets yellow. Once much usedas a febrifuge ; although now neglected Mr. Burnett says that its propertiesare such as to lead to a belief that it has been superseded byother not more efficacious remedies.CICHORACEJE.Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 251.LACTUCA.959. L.virosa Linn.sp.pl 1119. Eng. Bot. t. 1957. Woodv.250. Smith Eng. Fl. iii. 345. Hedges, old walls, ruins,t.and the skirts of fields in Europe.The root is tap-shaped. Stem solitary, 2 or 3 feet high, erect, round,smooth, sparingly leafy, scarcely branched ; panicled at the top ;a littleInvolucre cylindrical, imbricated, with the scales membranousat the margin, few-flowered. Receptacle naked. Achaeniumcompressed, wingless, with a long filiform beak. Pappus hair-in several rows.like,prickly below. Leaves horizontal, nearly smooth, finely toothed;radical ones numerous, obovate, undiyided, depressed those of the;stem smaller, often lobed ; arrow-shaped and clasping at their base ;the midrib of all more or less beset underneath with prominent prickles ;such as often occur on the margin also. Flower-heads numerous,panicled, with abundance of small, heart-shaped, pointed bracteas. Involucralscales downy at the tip, destitute of any keels or ribs. Corollasmall, light yellow. Pappus rough. Smith. The milky juice wheninspissated has been used as a substitute for960. L. sativa L., theopium.common Lettuce, yields a milk whichwhen inspissated resembles opium in appearance, smell, andeffects. It has been said to procure calm and sleep, withoutsome of the ill effects of opium. The drugis called officinallyThridace, Lettuce opium, or Lactucarium.TARAXACUM.Heads many-flowered. Involucral scales in 2 rows ;the innermostlinear and parallel, the outer shorter, spreading or reflexed.Receptacle naked, convex, dotted. Achaenium roundor angular, wingless, with a long beak, which is very slender,brittle, cylindrical, and furnished at the base with toothliketubercles. Pappus hairlike, very soft, in many rows.469 H H 3