390 SYNGENESIA— POLYGAMIA-iEQU. Cnicus. 



In moist meadows or pastures, and watery spots by road sides, 

 common. 



Biennial. July, August. 



Root branching. Herb very prickly, of a deep green. Stem so- 

 litary, erect, straight, somewhat branched, from 3 to 5 or 6 

 feet high, angular, solid, clothed in every part with leafy, spi- 

 nous, interrupted wings. Leaves deeply pinnatifid, running down 

 into the wings, rough with short hairs, fringed with numerous 

 prickles ; slightly cottony beneath, FL deep crimson, frequently 

 w'hite, sessile, crowded about the tops of the stem and branches, 

 and not a-thlrd the size of the last. Cal. almost globular ; its 

 scales smooth, close, abrupt, keeled in the upper part, each 

 bearing a small harmless spine ; the innermost with leafy vm- 

 armed points. Seeds very smooth and even. Down finely fea- 

 thery. 



** Leaves sessile, or partiallij decurrent. Stem not xmiged. 



3. C. arvciisis. Creeping Plume-thistle. 



Leaves sessile, pinnatifid, spinous, nearly smooth. Stem 

 panicletl, solid. Calyx ovate; outer scales spinous. Root 

 creeping, tuberous. 



C. arvensis. Comp. ed. 4. 134. Hook. Scot. 237. Hosack in the 



American and Pliilos. Register, v.\.2]l.f. 

 Carduus arvensis. Curt. Lond.fasc. 6. t. 57. Fl- Rf. 850. Engl. 



£o/. V. 14.<. 975. Sibth. 245. 

 C. vulgatissimus viarum. Rail Syn. 194. Ger. Em. 11 73./. 

 Serratula arvensis. Linn. Sp. PI. \149. fVilld. v.3. 1646. Huds. 



349. Jf'ilh. 696. Mart. Rust. t.\32. Fl. Dan. t. 644. 

 Cirsium n. 171. Hall. Hist. v. 1.74. 

 Ceanothos Theophrasti. Column. Ecphr. v. 1 . 45. t. 46. 

 Common Thistle. Petiv. H. Brit. t.2\. f. 5, 



In cultivated fields and by way sides, a very troublesome weed. 



Perennial. July. 



Root fleshy, creeping deep in the earth to a great extent, and very 

 tenacious of life. Stems erect, 3 or 4 feet high, round, furrow- 

 ed, full of pith, branched and panicled, leafy, but not winged, 

 occasionally more or less downy. Leaves numerous, alternate, 

 sessile, rarely a little decurrent, pinnatifid, or sinuated, smooth, 

 or slightly downy, armed with numerous, strong, spreading 

 spines. Fl. numerous, stalked, panicled, erect, pale purple, 

 sometimes white, for the most part dioecious in effect, though 

 incompletely so in structure, as the late Mr. T. Smith F.L.S. has 

 well explained in Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. 13. 592 — 603. Cal. ovate; 

 its outer scales broadly lanceolate, decidedly spinous, vi^ooUy at 

 the edges ; inner much longer, with leafy points, as in many 

 other undoubted species of Cnicus or Carduus. Seed-down co- 

 piousj delicately feathery. 



