T U S S I L A G O h yb rids
Longer-Jlalked Butter-bur.
S Y N G E N E S J A Polygamia-fuperjhca.
G en. C har. Rècept. naked. Down fimple. Calyx-
fcales equal, as long as the difk, fomewhat membranous.
S p e c . C har. Panicle denfe, oblong. Female florets
very numerous ; hermaphrodite one or two,
central, with generally feparate antheræ.
S y n . Tuffilago hybrida. Linn. Sp. PI. 1214. Hudf.
FI. An. 364. With. Lot. Arr. 906. ed. 3. v. 3.
721.
Fetafites major, floribus pediculfs longis infidenti-
bus. Rail Syn. 179.
W i « obliged to M r . Travis o f Scarborough for this
Wild fpecimen, which was gathered near Thorp Arnold in
Leicefterffiire, on the Cdes of ditches, where this plant grows
intermixed with T . Fetafites. It is faid to be not uncommon
in that county, and alfo to be frequent about Manchester.
I t is perennial, flowering in Ap ril, and the down o f the feeds
before they are fhed, forming a filvery plume, is very ornamental
and eonfpicuous. . ,
Root thick, creeping very far. Leaves radical, heart-lhaped,
pointed, irregularly toothed, cut away clofe to the fide nerves
at the bafe, very broad, downy beneath, Handing on long up-
right flefhy cottony foot-ftalks- Stalk ere<3:? rifing above the
leaves, fimple, round, cottony, invefted with lanceolate fcales,
the lowermoft of which moftly terminate in a fmall leafy appendage.
Panicle denfe, oblong or nearly ovate at f i r f l ; after
flowering, cylindrical and more loofe. Partial flower-ftalks
moftly a little branched, flender, fcaly and downy. Flowers
flefh-coloured. Calyx ffiort, nearly fmooth, tipped with purple.
Florets very numerous, all tubular, and for the molt
part female. Style much longer than the corolla, cloven,
{harp-pointed. Linnaeus defcribes thefe female flowrets as
naked, or without corolla ; but we muft confefs that in his own
fpecimen as well as ours we can find no floret without. Seed
obovate, rarely fertile. Down rough. In the centre among
thefe female florets are found one or two, fcarcely more, hermaphrodite
ones, which have a reddilh and rather more con-
fpicuous corolla. T h e ir antherse are red, feparate, or
fcarcely at all fyngenefious. T h e ir ftigma is club-lLaped,
notched but hardly cloven, much thicker and fhorter than m
the female florets, and the germen is evidently imperfect.
W e are almoft perfuaded o f what nobody has hitherto
hinted, that this plant is the true female o f T . Petaftes, being
furnifhed with only a fmall provifion o f the other T ex to perform
its office occafionally, as is the cafe in Spinacbia, Cannabis,
Mufa} We. See T . Petaftes in the next plate.