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L E 0 N T 0 D 0 N Taraxacum.
Dandelion.
/&
S Y N G E N E S IA Potygamia eequalis.
G en. Char. Receptacle naked. Calyx imbricated,
with flaccid fcales. Down Ample, on a footftalk.
Spec. Ch a r . Outer Icales of the calyx reflexed.
Leaves runcinate, toothed, fmooth.
Syn. Leontodon Taraxacum. Linn. Sp. PI. 1122.
Hudf. 339. Relh. 294. Curt. Lond. fafc. i . t . 58.
Woodv. Med. Bot. t. 3.
L. officinalis. With. 679.
Taraxacum officinale. Sibth. 239.
Dens leonis. Ran Syn. 170. n. 1: alfo 171.«. 2.
T h E Dandelion is too common to be overlooked by the
moft incurious botanift ; it clothes our meadows with yellow
early in the fpring, and may be found in bloom throughout
fummer in wafte or ill-cultivated places. The root is perennial,
deep and branching, rendering it a troublefome weed. Leaves
radical, numerous, runcinate (that is, cut into lateral lobes
which are hooked backwards), toothed, pointed, of a full grafs-
green, fmooth. Stalks Ample, round, hollow, fmooth, fingle-
flowered, brittle. Flower large, opening in the morning and in
fine weather only, compofed of numerous bright-yellow ligulate
florets with 5 teeth. Calyx of feveral linear entire leaves, of
which the outermoft are more or lefs recurved. Styles obferved
by Mr. Sowerby to be hairy. Seeds obovate, furrowed, rough,
bearing on a long footftalk a radiated tuft of fimple down.
Receptacle convex, dotted. The whole herb is milky and bitter,
but, like Lettuce, becomes fweet by culture, or blanching.
The above Englilh name, a corruption of the French dent de
lion, lion’s tooth, has taken place of a very'coarfe one expreflive
of the diuretic quality of this plant.
With refpe£t to the L. paluflre of Lyons, to which Dr.
Withering has applied the name of Taraxacon, we fcarcely think
it more than a variety. It grows on wet commons, is lefs
vigorous, has leaves lefs deeply lobed, and the outer fcales of
the calyx are fhorter, ovate, and hardly at all reflexed. We
fufpeft the y of Hudfon to be a diftinft fpecies, but muft wait
for more light before it can be determined.