COMPOSITE FAMILY 267 



40. CARDUUS. Thistle. 



Spiny herbs, with mostly lobed alternate or basal leaves. 

 Heads large, the outer bracts spine-tipped. Flowers all tubu- 

 lar and alike. Pappus of numerous bristles. (Includes 

 Cirsium.) 



1. C. drummdndii Coville. Stem simple, 15 in. or less high, 

 glabrous and leafy up to the heads. Leaves woolly. Heads 

 about 2 in. high, sessile, white or purple-flowered; inner 

 bracts with weak tips, the outer gradually shorter and ovate, 

 short-spined. — Probably occurs only in the following variety. 



Var. acaulescens Coville. Heads smaller, few or several, 

 sessile in a tuft of basal leaves, the plant therefore stemless. — 

 Dry meadows above 5000 ft. alt. Cnicus tioganus Congdon, is 

 a form with more strongly lobed leaves of the same color on 

 both sides and white flowers; its type locality is, "Mt. Dana 

 region from the Tioga Mine to Mono Pass." 



2. C. andersdnii Greene. Stem 1 to 3 or 4 ft. high, lightly 

 woolly. Leaves woolly beneath, usually green above. Heads 

 V/2 to 2 in. high, long-peduncled, bright pink-red; bracts all 

 straight and erect, the outer gradually shorter, each tipped 

 with a weak prickle. — Occasional at middle altitudes. 



3. C. californicus Greene. Stem 2 to 5 ft. high, white with 

 matted wool. Leaves white-woolly. Heads 1 to \ l / 2 in. high, 

 long-peduncled, cream-color white or purplish; outer bracts 

 spreading, each ending in an upward-curved prickle. — Com- 

 mon on warm slopes below 6000 ft. alt. 



Centaurea melitensis L., or Tocalote, one of the yellow 

 star thistles, may appear as a weed. It is known by its small, 

 roundish, yellow-spined heads and obliquely inserted akenes. 



41. PHALACRdSERIS. 



1. P. bolanderi Gray. A glabrous perennial, the leaves 

 and naked flower-stalks (5 to 15 in. high) all from the thick 

 root. Leaves lanceolate, entire, 4 to 8 in. long. Head solitary, 

 yellow. Akenes short-oblong, not narrowed at either end, 

 without pappus. — First described from specimens gathered at 

 "Westfalls Meadows, above Yosemite Valley, alt. 8000 feet." 

 Sometimes the akenes have a pappus of a short crown with 

 divided margin (var. coronata Hall). This form has been 

 found from near Cathedral Peak and Chilnualna Creek to 

 Fresno Co., but it is very rare. 



42. MICROSERIS. 

 Glabrous or obscurely hairy herbs with yellow-flowered 



