Gen. XXI. TARAXACUM, L.
Capitulum multiflorum ; flosculis omnibus ligulatis. Involucrum biseriale, basi squamis parvis bracteola-
tum. Receptaculum nudum. Achenia oblonga, striata, costis muricatis v. denticulatis, abrupte in rostrum
gracile elougatiim contracta. Fappus plumosus.
The common Dandelion is a much more widely distributed plant than has hitherto been supposed. I have
already described it in the ‘ Flora Antarctica ’ as a native of the Falkland Islands, where, as well as at Fuegia, it
has been gathered in a certainly native state. It occurs iu the collections of Banks and Solander, made in New
Zealand, from which, as well as the fact that the prevalent varieties collected by these voyagers and by Mr. Colenso
differ from the ordinarily introduced British form, confirm the opinion of the plant being truly indigenous. Like
the Microseris and allied scapigerous, lierbaceous, and succulent Compositæ, the Dandelion varies extremely in
statui-e, aud the size and cutting of the leaf. In Europe it especially haunts newly-cultivated soü, growing to a
very large size ; but in its truly aboriginal localities, and especially on mountains, it appears generally to be a plant
of bumble stature. So also in New Zealand, the earlier collected forms are all small, with slender scapes ; but
about the Bay of Islands, Thames district, and Canterbury, it is spreading on cultivated ground, and has there
afready assumed the common English form, if indeed such specimens be uot introduced with English seed. The
observant colonist will have a most interesting field for watching in New Zealand the influence of cultivation upon
the indigenous and introduced vegetation. In England we have abeady lost sight of this, and we regard the
road-side states of the Dandelion, Sow-thistle, etc., as the normal or typical, and treat tbe truly native and
natural forms as starved, stunted, and alpine. In doing this we forget that the former are often but transient inhabitants
of cultivated spots, and grow on them in great luxuriance, simply because their seeds are supplied by
nature with remarkable appliances for aiding dispersion ; they get there before other plants, and growing quickly,
monopolize the soil ; soon other species of slower but surer growth, and with stronger powers of endurance, insinuate
themselves, and, pressing hard on the Dandelion and Sow-thistle, reduce the fomer to its lowly form and
kill the latter. Hence, in a fii-st year’s dressed field we often see succulent Dandelions a foot high, and Sowthistles
3 feet ; in the second year the same field becomes a grass meadow, in which the first-named plant is
but a few inches high, and the thistle is gone.—The novice in New Zealand botany may recognize the genus
Taraxacum by its general similarity to Mict'oseris, from which it differs in the broader foliage, but most remarkably
in the pappus, wliich is composed of one series of smooth hairs, supported on a very long slender stalk, proceeding
from the top of the achenium; the latter is turgid at the middle, ribbed, the ribs sharply toothed above the
middle. (Name of Arabic origin.)
I . Taraxacum officinale, DC. Prodr. Leontodon Taraxacum, Auct.
Yar. a. elata; foliis petiolatis lineari-oblongis sinuato-dentatis runcinato-pinnatifidisve.
Yar. minor; foliis ut in var. a, scapo superne tomentoso. T. eriopodum, IJC., etc.
Yar. y.pjygrnoea; depressa, foliis anguste linearibus abrupte piunatifide lobatis lobis dentatis.
H a b . Northern and Middle Islands, in various places, chiefly on the east coast and on the mountains,
Banks and Solander, etc.
Gen. XXII. SONCHUS, L.
Capitulum multiflorum; flosculis omnibus hermaphroditis, ligulatis. Involucrtm imhncaiVim ; squamis
multi- V. pauci-seriatis. Receptaculum nudum. Achenia conformia, compressa v. alata, erostria, costata,
lævia V . tuberculata. Fappjus mollis, albus, pluriserialis, pilis tenuissimis.
The English “ Sow-thistle ” appears to be truly a native of New Zealand, having been found by tbe earliest
voyagers, as well as by all subsequent ones, in the most remote quarters. Mr. Colenso says that the natives know it
as undoubtedly indigenoxis, and distinguish it from the imported Sonchus oleraeeus, or that which abounds on the
newly tnrned-up soil, etc., about the settlements, and which is probably introduced from Europe. It has been
found also in Tasmania and in Western Australia, abundantly throughout North and South America from Canada to
Chili, at the Cape of Good Hope, West Africa, and throughout India, Siberia, and Europe. Like all other plants
that follow civilized man, it is now quite impossible to define the limits within which it is truly indigenous. Of
the two well-marked New Zealand varieties, that sent by Mr. Colenso as certainly indigenous is the commoner English
form, whilst the otber, gathered by Dr. Lyall, in rarely visited spots, is the most abundant Tropical variety iu
the New World. Dr. Sinclair sends fine specimens from Auckland and the Thames, precisely identical with Mr.
Colenso’s and the English states.—Sonchus oleraeeus is a tail, smooth, branching or simple, leafy, succulent, milky
herb, with a hollow grooved stem, and subumbellate corymbs of yellow heads, varying extremely in size and habit,
and in the form and cutting of the foliage. Leaves ovate-oblong or linear-oblong, petiolate or sessile, entire, sinuate
and irregularly toothed, or rimcinate pinnatifid, with large or small toothed lobes, sometimes quite linear-elongated
and sessile and acuminate, with waved spinulose margins, in others broadly oblong, deltoid or fiddle-shaped, with a
loug winged petiole ; cauline leaves clasping the stem, with broad auricles. Involucres in all the New Zealand
specimens quite smooth, but in other countries they are often pilose, pubescent, or glandular ; scales in several
series. Heads yellow, -|“ I t across, of many ligulate fiorets. Receptacle smooth. Pappus of many series of
simple wliite soft hairs. Achenium oblong, blunt at both ends, compressed, grooved and ribbed. In var. a they
are narrow, compressed, many-ribbed, the ribs muricated ; in var. 8 they are fiat, broader, winged, with few scarcely
rough ribs. (Name from (jop.(¡>os, hollow, in allusion to the hollow stems ; o-oyxof in Greek.)
1. Sonchus oleraeeus, L., Sp. Fl. Forst. Frodr. A. Cunn. Frodr. A. Rich. Flora.
Var. a ; acheniis obovatis compressis multistriatis, striis creberrime muricatis.
Y"ar. /3 ; acheniis late oblongis valde compressis alatis paucistriatis, striis fere lævibus. S. asper,
nil, etc.
H a b . Northern and Middle Islands; abundant, Banks and Solander, Forster, etc. Yar. a. Auckland
and Waikake, Sinclair; Ruapuke Island, Lyall. Var. Interior, Colenso; Chalky Bay, Nat.
names, “ Pororua” and “ Puwha," Colenso.
The wild plant, Air. Colenso says, was eaten by the New Zealanders, who gave up its use on the introduction
of the European weed, which they prefer, as being less bitter. It would be very desfrable to ascertain, if possible,
whether both varieties are truly indigenous, and whether the truly indigenous variety attaches itself to cultivated
grounds, and mixes with the imported one.
Ob s. I have no specimens of the following very distinct plant :—
Flieracium fragile. Banks et Sol. ; foliis omnibus radicalibus lineari-spathulatis obtusis patulis e basi
ad apicem lobulatis lobulis loboque terminali ampio serrulatis costa crassa, scapis 3 crassis I-foliatis
superne remote bracteolatis, involucri cylindracei squamis fuscis multiseriatis obtusis glandulosis, flosculis
luteis, ligulis truncatis apice dentatis. II. fragile et Leontodon elegans, Banks et Sol. 3ÍSS. et Ic.
Ha b . Totarra-niii, or Queen Charlotte’s Island, Banks and Solander.
Apparently a very fleshy plant, with leaves 3-5 inches long, linear, spathulate, lobulate along the edge, terminated
by a large lobe, whicli, as well as the lobules, is denticulate ; midrib very thick. Scapes stout, with one or
two leaflets, 6 inches long. Heads yellow, as large as those of Taraxacum, or larger. Involucre oblong, of many
imbricating appressed scales, apparently covered with glandular pubescence.—Some latitude must be allowed for this
description.