COMPOSITE 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: roadsides and neglected 

 ground. 



THE PLANT: erect, one foot to three feet high; branched 

 above; the stem slender and grooved. 



THE LEAVES: alternate; lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate; 

 five inches to eight inches long; without hairs on the 

 upper surface and, when young, slightly wooly on the 

 under surface; acute at the apex; broader at the base; 

 sometimes petioled or sometimes sessile and slightly clasp- 

 ing; the lower sometimes running down the stem; all 

 deeply pinnatifid into very prickly lobed or toothed 

 segments. 



THE FLOWER HEADS: numerous, one inch broad, nearly 

 one inch high; the outer bracts ovate to lanceolate, tipped 

 with short, prickly points. 



THE FRUIT: achenes, pappus of bristles. 



This is that tall, bushy thistle, with very narrow leaves 

 and small lilac flower heads. To explain its appearance 

 on Nantucket, legend says that a Canadian ship, freighted 

 with mattresses, was wrecked here and the down contained 

 seed, which germinated, and the plant spread. It is 

 really a pest, and Nantucket should be none too glad to 

 welcome it. 



COMPOSITE COMPOSITE FAMILY 



Cirsium lanceolatum, L. 



Magenta Common Thistle, Horse Thistle, 



Lance-leaved Bell Thistle, 



July-October Thistle, Bird Thistle, 



Bull Thistle, Blue Thistle, 



Spear Thistle, Button Thistle, 



Plume Thistle, Boar Thistle, 



Bur Thistle, Roadside Thistle, 

 Bank Thistle, 



416 



