[ 7° 7 ]
L A C T U C A faligna*
L ea ji Lettuce.
S Y N G E N E S I A Pdlygamia-cequalis.
G en. Char. Recept. naked. Cal. imbricated, cy-
lindrical, with a membranous margin. Down Ample,
on a foot-ftalk.
Spec. Char. Leaves linear; bafiate or pinnatifid,
feffile, their mid-rib prickly on the back.
Syn. La<5tuca faligna. Linn. Sp. Pi. 1119. Sm.
FI. Brit. 820. Hudf. 338. With. 678. Hull. 175.
Relh. 293. Dickf. H. Sicc. fafc. 17. 16.
L. fylveftris minima. Rail Syn. 162.
T H E Rev. Mr. Relhan has favoured us with this wild fpe-
cimen of LaBuca faligna from the neighbourhood of Cambridge.
It loves a calcareous foil, but is by no means frequent
in any fituation. The London botanifts a very few
years fince ufed to find it about Pancras. Dr. Pulteney has
remarked it, though rarely, in fhady lanes in Dorfetfhire.
We know of no other places where it has been obferved.
In habit and fenfible qualities it agrees with other wild
lettuces, but its flender ofier-like form, and narrow moftly entire
leaves, which, though haftate at the bafe, are very feldom
divided or notched in any other part, readily difiinguifh it.
The ftem is brown, a little prickly. Leaves and calyx glaucous.
Flowers very fmall, pale-yellow, opening only in funfhine, and
foon fading. The feeds are beautifully furrowed, roughifh;
their down finely jointed. The root is biennial, and the
flowers appear in Auguft. The mid-rib of the leaves, though
naturally prickly, is occafionaily fmooth.
t