This section is from the book "Wild Flowers Every Child Should Know", by Frederic William Stack. Also available from Amazon: Wild flowers every child should know.
A tall and usually single-stalked annual, naturalized from Europe, and growing from one to ten feet high, from a fibrous root. The smooth, hollow, grooved stalk is leafy below, and contains a milky juice. The large leaves are very decorative, and are used as a salad and as a pot herb. They are Dandelion-like, smooth, shining and clasp the stalk with a heart-shaped vase. They are sharply cut into several irregular, misshapen triangles that succeed each other closely. Their wavy margins are toothed or edged with soft, weak spines. Other leaves are lance-shaped with smooth margins. They alternate along the stalk, and have a stout midrib. The lower leaves are stemmed. Hare's Lettuce became a popular name for this plant because the large leaves afforded shelter for that animal, and, according to "Grete Herbale," "if the hare come under it, he is sure that no beaste can touch hym." The small, pale yellow, flat-topped flower heads are loosely arranged in a spreading, terminal cluster. The numerous fluffy florets are set in a green, vase-shaped cup. The Sow Thistle is a common plant everywhere in fields, and along roadways and fence rows from May to November.
 
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