View source for Sonchus

{{Treatment/ID
|accepted_name=Sonchus
|accepted_authority=Linnaeus
|publications={{Treatment/Publication
|title=Sp. Pl.
|place=2: 793. 1753
|year=1753
}}{{Treatment/Publication
|title=Gen. Pl. ed.
|place=5, 347. 1754
|year=1754
}}
|common_names=Sow-thistle;laiteron
|basionyms=
|synonyms=
|hierarchy=Asteraceae;Asteraceae tribe Cichorieae;Sonchus
|hierarchy_nav=<div class="higher-taxa"><div class="higher-taxon"><small>family</small>[[Asteraceae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>tribe</small>[[Asteraceae tribe Cichorieae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>genus</small>[[Sonchus]]</div></div>
|etymology=Greek sonchos, ancient name for a kind of thistle
|volume=Volume 19
|mention_page=page 219, 274
|treatment_page=page 273
}}<!--

--><span class="statement" id="st-undefined" data-properties=""><b>Annuals,</b> biennials, or perennials [shrubs], 3–350+ cm; taprooted, rhizomatous, or stoloniferous. <b>Stems</b> erect, branched distally or throughout, usually glabrous, sometimes stipitate-glandular (mostly distally). <b>Leaves</b> basal and cauline or mostly cauline; basal usually petiolate (petioles usually winged), cauline often sessile; blades mostly oblong, oblanceolate, or lanceolate, (bases often auriculate) margins usually 1(–2)-pinnately lobed, ultimate margins usually dentate (teeth often ± prickly), sometimes entire. <b>Heads</b> borne in corymbiform to subumbelliform arrays. <b>Peduncles</b> not notably dilated distally, usually ± bracteolate, glabrous or stipitate-glandular and/or tomentose. <b>Calyculi</b> 0. <b>Involucres</b> campanulate to urceolate, 5–15+ mm diam. <b>Phyllaries</b> 27–50 in 3–5+ series, unequal, green, deltate to lanceolate or linear, margins sometimes narrowly scarious (sometimes ciliate), apices acute (faces glabrous or stipitate- to setose-glandular). <b>Receptacles</b> flat to convex, ± pitted, glabrous, epaleate. <b>Florets</b> [30–]80–250[–450+]; corollas yellow to orange (not deliquescent; anthers yellowish to brownish apically). <b>Cypselae</b> stramineous or reddish to dark brown, ± compressed, mostly oblong or oblanceoloid to ellipsoid, beaks 0, ribs usually 2–4(–5+) on each face, faces sometimes transversely rugulose or tuberculate, glabrous; pappi tardily falling or persistent, of 80–100+, white, smooth or barbellulate bristles (some flattened, ± setiform scales), outer usually distinct in ± 1 series, inner basally coherent or connate, in 2–3+ series. <b>x</b> = 9.</span><!--

-->{{Treatment/Body
|distribution=Europe (Mediterranean);w Asia;n Africa;Atlantic Islands;some species introduced nearly worldwide.
|discussion=<p>Species 50–60+ (5 in the flora).</p><!--
--><p>Sonchus species are herbs in North America; some are sometimes woody at bases.</p>
|tables=
|references={{Treatment/Reference
|id=boulos1973a
|text=Boulos, L. 1973. Révision systématique du genre Sonchus L. s.l.: IV. Sous-genre: 1. Sonchus. Bot. Not. 126: 155–196.
}}
}}<!--

--><div class="treatment-key">
==Key==
<div class="treatment-key-group">
  
{| class="wikitable fna-keytable"
|-id=key-0-1
|1
|Leaf base auricles often recurved or curled, rounded; ligules shorter than tubes; cypselae strongly compressed, ± winged, ribs 3 on each face, faces not rugulose or tuberculate; annuals or biennials
|[[Sonchus asper|Sonchus asper]]
|-id=key-0-1
|1
|Leaf base auricles usually straight, sometimes curved, obtuse or acute; ligules shorter or longer than tubes; cypselae weakly compressed, ribs 2–5+ on each face, faces transversely rugulose or tuberculate; annuals, biennials, or perennials
|[[#key-0-2| > 2]]
|-id=key-0-2
|2
|Annuals or biennials; stem bases soft to hard, herbaceous, often hollow
|[[#key-0-3| > 3]]
|-id=key-0-2
|2
|Perennials; stem bases hard, sometimes ± woody
|[[#key-0-4| > 4]]
|-id=key-0-3
|3
|Leaf blade lobes ± deltate to lanceolate (not constricted at bases), the terminal usually larger than laterals; ligules ± equaling tubes; widespread
|[[Sonchus oleraceus|Sonchus oleraceus]]
|-id=key-0-3
|3
|Leaf blade lobes ± rhombic to lanceolate (constricted at bases) or ± linear, the terminal ± equaling laterals; ligules longer than tubes; occasional, mostly historic on ballast
|[[Sonchus tenerrimus|Sonchus tenerrimus]]
|-id=key-0-4
|4
|Cauline leaf base auricles rounded; cypselae dark brown, 2.5–3.5 mm; pappi 8–14 mm; widespread
|[[Sonchus arvensis|Sonchus arvensis]]
|-id=key-0-4
|4
|Cauline leaf base auricles acute; cypselae stramineous, 3.5–4 mm; pappi 7–9 mm; Ontario
|[[Sonchus palustris|Sonchus palustris]]
|}
</div></div><!--

-->{{#Taxon:
name=Sonchus
|author=Philip E. Hyatt
|authority=Linnaeus
|rank=genus
|parent rank=tribe
|synonyms=
|basionyms=
|family=Asteraceae
|illustrator=Yevonn Wilson-Ramsey
|distribution=Europe (Mediterranean);w Asia;n Africa;Atlantic Islands;some species introduced nearly worldwide.
|introduced=true
|reference=boulos1973a
|publication title=Sp. Pl.;Gen. Pl. ed.
|publication year=1753;1754
|special status=
|source xml=https://jpend@bitbucket.org/aafc-mbb/fna-data-curation.git/src/9216fc802291cd3df363fd52122300479582ede7/coarse_grained_fna_xml/V19-20-21/V19_375.xml
|tribe=Asteraceae tribe Cichorieae
|genus=Sonchus
}}<!--

-->[[Category:Treatment]][[Category:Asteraceae tribe Cichorieae]]