COMPOSITE FAMILY. 187 



C. Virginiamim, VIRGINIA T. Chiefly S. & W. on plains and barrens, 

 with rather simple stems 1 - 3 high, ending in a long naked peduncle ; leaves 

 lanceolate and slightly or not at all pinnatih'd ; head small. If. 



C. discolor, TWO-COLORED T. Low grounds, 3 - 6 high, branching 

 and leafy, with rather small heads, and deeply pinnatitid leaves green above 

 white beneath, their lobes narrow and prickly pointed. 



3. SILYBUM, MILK THISTLE. (An ancient Greek name.) 



S. Marianum, the only species, cult, in some gardens and rarely running 

 wild, from the Old World, well marked by its white-blotched or veined smooth 

 leaves with clasping base and merely sinuate prickly margins ; flowers purple, 

 in late summer, 



4. ONOPORDON, COTTON or SCOTCH THISTLE. (The ancient 

 Greek name.) 



O. Acanthium. Nat. from Eu. in waste places : tall, white-cottony, with 

 weak prickles on the sinuate-pinnatifid leaves and the broad leaf-like wings of 

 the stem and branches ; flowers purple, late summer. 



5. LAPP A, BURDOCK. (Name from a Greek word meaning to lay hold 

 of, from the burs or hook-awned heads.) 



L. officinalis, var. MAJOR, the COMMON B., Avith large leaves loosely 

 cottony beneath, or somewhat naked, the lower heart-shaped, upper ovate, is 

 common in manured soil and barnyards. Var. MINOR is smaller and smoother, 

 with leaves tapering at the base, often cut-toothed or cleft. Fl. mostly purple, 

 all summer and autumn. 



6. CARTHAMUS, SAFFLOWER, FALSE SAFFRON. (Arabic 

 name of the plant, from the properties of the orange-colored flowers, which 

 are used in dying or coloring yellow, as a substitute for true Saffron.) 



C. tinctbrius, the only common species, cult, in country gardens, from the 

 Orient; smooth, 6' -12' high, with ovate-oblong leaves and large head, in 

 summer. 



7. CNICUS, BLESSED THISTLE. (Greek name of a kind of Thistle.) 

 C. benedictUS, the only species, scarce in waste places S., from Eu. ; has 



much branched loosely woolly stems, leafy up to the rather small heads of yel- 

 lowish flowers, and pale pinnatifid leaves with slightly prickly edges. 



8. CENTAUREA, CENTAUREA or STAR-THISTLE. (Ancient 

 name, after Chiron the Centaur.) Fl. summer. 



1 . Flowers all alike in the head, the marginal ones not enlarged and ray-like : 

 pappus of very short bristles : scales of head with dark-fringed appendage. 



C. nigra, BLACK C. or KNAPWEED. A coarse weed, in fields and waste 

 places E., nat. from Eu. ; stem 2 high; leaves roughish, lance-oblong, the 

 lower with some coarse teeth ; flowers purple. 2/ 



2. Marginal flowers more or fos enlarged, forming a kind of false ray, and 

 sterile : jxippus of bristles : scales of head with fringed appendage. 



C. Cineraria, or CANDID^SSIMA, a low species, cult, from S. Eu. with 

 very Avhite-woolly twice pinnatifid leaves, and purple flowers, the outermost 

 little enlarged : not hardy N. ^ 



C. Americana. Cult, from Arkansas and Texas : smooth, with stout 

 stem l-2 high, oblong or lance-oblong leaves, the upper entire, very large 

 head of showy pale purple flowers, the outer ones much enlarged, and the scales 

 with large scarious-fringed appendage. 



C. Cjranus, BLUEBOTTLE or CORNFLOWER. In gardens, from Eu., spar- 

 ingly running wild ; loosely cottony, with stem-leaves linear and mostly entire, 



