Another herb of which they are very fond is the Sowthistle with a simple stem, known by the name of _Jerja_. (_Sonchus alpinus._ _Fl. Lapp ed._ 2. 240. _Sm. Pl. Ic. t._ 21. _S. lapponicus._ _Willd. Sp. Pl._ _v._ 3. 1520.) This has a perennial root. The stem is erect, round, green, smooth, except a few soft scattered hairs, which are most remarkable towards the top and bottom, and is almost as tall as a man. Leaves about twelve or fourteen, half clasping the stem, gradually smaller upwards, nearly the shape of Dandelion, or of the common Sowthistle, one half of each leaf, consisting of the terminal lobe, making exactly an acute triangle, toothed at the edges; from that part downwards the leaf contracts, but not to the main rib, and then again expands into two narrow appendages, as it were, equal in breadth, but unequal in length, which are crenate at their edges. From thence begins the stalk of the leaf, which is winged and toothed, and half embraces the stem. The leaves are thin and smooth, with a rib purple on the upper side, and the upper ones are the least divided, as well as the bluntest. The flowers are collected into a corymbus, somewhat like Butterbur, but more loosely, especially in the lower part, each supported by a very short stalk, accompanied by a very narrow oblong leaf which extends beyond the flower. The calyx consists of several oblong, narrow, acute, imbricated leaves, varying in number from fourteen to twenty, the outermost gradually shortest, but the ten innermost are equal in length, and blunter than the rest, composing two rows; the calyx altogether is shorter than the corolla, tubular, swelling, and downy. Florets equal in number to the leaves of the calyx. Germen short, square, crowned with long white radiating down. Petal flat, cut away on one side, violet-coloured, five-toothed. Stamens five, white, their apex (anther) cylindrical, five-sided, white, marked with five blue lines. Pistil one, forked at the top. Receptacle naked, dotted. This plant grows among trees at the sides of mountains, along with the narrow-hooded Aconite (_Aconitum lycoctonum_), flowering at the end of July or beginning of August. The stem, which is milky, is eaten by the Laplanders in the same manner as Angelica. The taste was to me very bitter, but the people of the country do not find it so, though they confessed that it appeared bitter to them when they first learned to eat it. As soon as the plant shows its flowers, the stalk becomes woody, and no longer eatable.