_Chicory Family_
Herbs almost always with milky juice, alternate or basal leaves and
yellow or rarely pink, blue, purple, or white flowers in involucrate
heads; bracts of the involucre in 1 to several series; flowers all
alike and perfect; corolla with a short or long tube and a strap-shaped
(ligulate) usually 5-toothed limb (ray).
Heads solitary; leaves all basal.
Achenes smooth at the apex. =Agoseris.=
Achenes spinulose at the apex. =Taraxacum.=
Heads several; leaves not all basal.
Achenes flattened.
Flowers yellow. =Sonchus.=
Flowers blue. =Lactuca.=
Achenes rounded.
Pappus white. =Crepis.=
Pappus tawny. =Hieracium.=
[Sidenote: =Agoseris glauca= (Pursh.) Greene. _Large-flowered
Agoseris._]
Pale and smooth throughout or a little woolly below. Leaves
linear-lanceolate or oblong, entire, dentate or pinnatifid, 2—10
inches long, acuminate. Scapes stout, smooth or slightly hairy, longer
than the leaves, 6—18 inches high, head 1—2 inches broad, rays bright
yellow, involucre oblong, campanulate, usually smooth.
Open grounds and on grassy alpine slopes and in meadows; flowering
during June and July.
[Illustration: _a_ Hieracium umbellatum L. Narrow-Leaved Hawk-weed.
_b_ Agoseris aurantiaca (Hook.) Greene. (⅔ Nat.)]
[Sidenote: =Agoseris aurantiaca= (Hook.) Greene. _Orange-flowered
Agoseris._]
Nearly smooth, not glaucous. Leaves oblanceolate, obtuse, entire or
with lanceolate lobes toward the base, narrowed into slender petioles,
4—8 inches long. Scapes longer than the leaves, smooth below, woolly at
the top; involucre ½—¾ of an inch high, bracts lanceolate, more or less
woolly, flowers orange or copper-coloured.
In open ground and alpine meadows throughout the region; flowering in
midsummer.
[Sidenote: =Agoseris graciliens= (A. Gray) Greene. _Slender Agoseris._]
Smooth, leaves lanceolate or linear-lanceolate entire, 6—8 inches
long, acute. Scapes slender, 10—18 inches high, woolly at the summit;
involucre ½—¾ of an inch long, bracts narrow, smooth with hairy-fringed
margins; flowers deep orange.
In grassy alpine meadows throughout the Rockies at the higher
altitudes; flowering during July.
[Sidenote: =Taraxacum Taraxacum= (L.) Karst. _Dandelion._]
Root thick and deep. Leaves oblong to spatulate in outline, usually
rough-hairy at least when young, acute or obtuse, pinnatifid,
sinuate-dentate or rarely nearly entire, rather succulent, 3—10
inches long, ½—2½ inches wide, narrowed into petioles. Scapes erect,
2—18 inches high, head 1—2 inches broad, containing very numerous
golden yellow flowers, inner bracts of the involucre, linear or
linear-lanceolate, the outer similar, shorter, not glaucous, reflexed,
acute; achenes greenish brown.
In waste places and open ground throughout the region, along roadsides
and near the railway; established as a weed; flowering in early summer.
[Sidenote: =Taraxacum montanum= Nutt. _Mountain Dandelion._]
Smooth; scapes and leaves from the crown of a thick, vertical root.
Leaves spatulate, oblong, nearly entire or runcinately-toothed, obtuse,
the teeth shallow and simple, 3—4 inches long, ½—¾ of an inch wide.
Flowers bright orange or yellow on smooth scapes, 4—8 inches high;
involucral bracts all appressed, in 2-series, the outer ovate to
lanceolate, frequently reddish; inner ones narrowly lanceolate.
Throughout the Rockies in the lower valleys and slopes; flowering in
early June.
[Sidenote: =Sonchus arvensis= L. _Milk Thistle._]
Stems smooth, leafy below, branched and nearly naked above, 2—4 feet
high. Lower and basal leaves runcinate-pinnatifid, often 12 inches
long, spinulose dentate, narrowed into short petioles, the upper
pinnatifid or entire, clasping. Flowers bright yellow, numerous in
showy heads, 1—2 inches broad; involucre nearly an inch high.
An introduced weed, occurring more or less frequently along the line of
the railway throughout the region; a showy plant when in flower, during
the early part of the day.
[Sidenote: =Lactuca pulchella= (Pursh) DC. _Large-flowered Blue
Lettuce._]
Smooth throughout and somewhat glaucous; stem rather slender and leafy,
1—3 feet high. Leaves linear-lanceolate, lanceolate or oblong, acute,
entire, dentate, lobed or pinnatifid, 2—8 inches long. Flowers bright
blue or violet in numerous heads ½ an inch or more broad, in an open
panicle.
Frequent along the railway in moist open places throughout the region;
flowering in midsummer.
[Sidenote: =Crepis nana= Richards. _Alpine Hawk’s-beard._]
Smooth, forming depressed tufts on slender, creeping rootstocks. Leaves
chiefly at the root, 1—2 inches long including the petioles, obovate
to spatulate, entire, repand dentate or lyrate, commonly equalling the
clustered stems. Heads few-flowered, nearly ½ an inch high, narrowly
cylindric, ⅛ of an inch in diameter; flowers bright yellow, spreading ¼
of an inch across.
A small alpine plant growing among loose stones and on the moraines and
on slides and summits throughout the Rockies; flowering in midsummer.
[Sidenote: =Crepis elegans= Hook. _Many-flowered Hawk’s-beard._]
Smooth, many-stemmed from a perennial tap-root, 6—12 inches high,
diffusely branched. Leaves entire or nearly so; root leaves spatulate;
stem-leaves from lanceolate to linear. Heads numerous, narrowly
cylindric, ¼—⅓ of an inch high, the pale yellow flowers little more
than ⅓ of an inch across.
In gravel beds along the rivers and larger streams throughout the
Rockies; flowering during July.
[Sidenote: =Hieracium umbellatum= L. _Narrow-leaved Hawk-weed._]
Stem rather slender, smooth or puberulent, sometimes rough hairy
below, leafy, simple, 1—2½ feet high. Leaves lanceolate or the lowest
spatulate, entire, denticulate or sometimes laciniate-dentate, acute or
acuminate, 1—3 inches long, smooth above, usually hairy beneath with
the margins fringed with hairs. Heads of flowers nearly an inch broad,
umbellate, bright yellow.
On banks and near rivers in the Rockies; flowering in July.
[Sidenote: =Hieracium Scouleri= Hook. _Hairy Hawk-weed._]
Hairy throughout with long, soft hairs; 1—2 feet high. Leaves
lanceolate or spatulate-lanceolate, 3—6 inches long. Flowers in an
irregular branching panicle. Head ½ an inch high; involucre with
copious long bristly hairs; flowers bright yellow, ½ an inch or more
broad.
On banks and stony open ground throughout the region flowering during
July.
[Sidenote: =Hieracium gracile= Hook. _Slender Hawk-weed._]
Growing in tufts, pale green. Leaves nearly all in clusters at the
root, obovate to oblong-spatulate, 1—3 inches long, attenuate into
petioles, entire or repand denticulate. Stems 8—18 inches high,
brownish-hairy above, bearing few or several heads of flowers near the
top; involucres about ⅓ of an inch high, usually blackish-hairy at the
base; flowers bright yellow in heads ¼ of an inch or less broad.
In dry open or shaded places at the higher elevations throughout the
region, growing in sand; flowering in July.
[Sidenote: =Hieracium albiflorum= Hook. _White-flowered Hawk-weed._]
Loosely branching and hairy with long hairs; 1—3 feet high. Leaves
oblong, thin, 2—6 inches long. Involucres narrow-campanulate, ⅓ to
nearly ½ an inch high; flowers white, ¼ of an inch across or more;
several in a compound cyme.
On sandy banks and open mountain sides, frequent throughout the region
at the lower elevations; flowering during June and July.