404 COMPOSIT.E. Cnicus. 



Var. Vaseyi. Perhaps a distinct species, only arachnoid-tomentose and greenish, even 

 glalirate iu age. — California, in Plumas and f^ierra. Co., Lemmon, Mrs. Ames. A remark- 

 ably glabrate form, with iuvolucral bracts obscurely glandular, and tipped with very short 

 prickle, growing iu dry soil exposed to the sun, Tamalpais, G. R. Vase;/. Also a robust form, 

 equally glabrate and green, with the glandular spot on the iuvolucral bracts conspicuous 

 and narrow : in salt marshes, Suisin Bay, Greene. 



^ = == Leaves in the ssme species from undivided to pinnately parted, and the lobes from 

 ovate to lanceolate, upper face soon glabrate and pi-een: involucral bracts tipped with weak 

 setiform prickles; or sometimes hardly any: anther-tips subulate, very acute: corolla flesh- 

 colored, rarely white. 

 C. altissimvis, Willd. Stem branching, 3 to 10 feet high: leaves in the typical form 

 ovate-oi)loiig or narrower, sometimes with merely spinulose-ciliate slightly toothed margins, 

 sometimes laciuiate-cleft or sinuate, or lower ones deeply sinuate-pinnatifid, weakly prickly : 

 heads one and a half to two inches high : involucral bracts firm-coriaceous, abruptly tipped 

 with a spreading setiform prickle, the short outermost ovate or oblong : roots fascicled and 

 not rarely tuberous-thickened below the middle, iu the manner of Dahlia. — Willd. Spec. iii. 

 1671 ; eIi. Sk. ii. 268 ; Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. x. 42. Curduus altissimus, L. Spec. ii. 824. 

 Cirsinm aUissimum, etc.. Dill. Elth. i. 81, t. 69. C. alttssimam & C. diver sifoUum, DC. Prodr. 

 vi. G40. — Borders of woods, and in open groimd, common from New York to Wisconsin, 

 Florida, and Texas. 



Var. filipsndulus, Gkay, Proc. Am. Acad. xix. 56. Smaller, 2 or 3 feet high: 

 roots tuberiferous : leaves commonly deeply pinnatifid : heads few, only inch and a half high. 



— Cirs/amjilipendulum, Engelm. in Gray, Man. ed. 5, 273. C Virginianum,\a.v.h ] Torr. & 

 Gray, 1. c. — Prairies and Live-oak thickets, Texas and Colorado. (Adj. Mex.) 



Var. discolor, Gray, 1. c. Stem 2 to 6 feet high, freely branching : leaves nearly all 

 deeply ])iuuatifid into lanceolate lobes, or those of upper leaves linear: heads fully inch and 

 a half high.— C. discolor, Muhl. in Willd. Spec. iii. 1670; Ell. 1. c; BigeL Fl. Bost. ed. 2, 

 292. Carduus discolor, Nutt., Darlingt., &c. Cirsium discolor, Spreng. Syst. iii. 373 ; DC. 

 L c. ; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. — Borders of fields and thickets, Canada and New England to 

 Illinois and Georgia. 

 C. Virginianus, Pursii. Stem slender, 2 or 3 feet high, simple or branching : leaves 

 narrow, varying as in the preceding : heads more naked-pedunculate, only an inch long : in- 

 volucral bracts small and narrow, thinner, tapering into a very weak short spreading bristle- 

 like prickle, sometimes hardly any: flowers rose-purple. — Fl. ii. 506; Ell. 1. c. Carduus 

 Virr/inianus, L. 1. c. ; Jacq. Obs. iv. t. 99 ; Nutt. 1. c. Cirsium Vinjinianuin, Michx. Fl. ii. 90 ; 

 DC. 1. c. ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 457, excl. last var. C. Texanum, Buckley in Proc. Acad. 

 Philad. 1862, imperfect specimen, apparently of this species. — Pine woods and dry banks, 

 Virginia to Texas. 



++ ++ Grecn'or with only light and thin arachnoid tomcntum, this at length mostly deciduou.s: 

 involucre innocuous or nearly so. Atlantic species. 



— Heads onlv inch high, locseh-^ somewhat paniculate: principal bracts of the involucre con- 

 spicuously viscid-glandular on the back, more or less cuspidate-tipped : stems branching, 2 to 8 

 feet high. 



C. Nuttallii, Gray, 1. c. Early glabrate : stem slender, helow winged by decurrence of the 

 leaves : these when young lightly arachnoid beneath and often villous with jointed hairs 

 above, dcei)ly pinnatifid and with narrow lobes, slender-prickly: heads rather narrow: invo- 

 lucre nearlv glabrous, of very small and narrow thiunish bracts, the lower ones acicular- 

 mucronate:' corollas white or pale purple. — Carduus glaher, Nutt. Gen. ii. 129 ? but if so, 

 hardly from New Jersey. Cnicus glaber, Ell. Sk. ii. 270. Cirsium Nuttallii, DC. Prodr. 



vi. 651. Dry ground, S. Carolina to Florida, toward the coast. Nearly related to C. 



Virginianus. 



C. "Wri.o'htii, Gray, 1. c. Robust and tall, with thin arachnoid wool tardily deciduous from 

 the ample (foot or more long) sinuate or pinnatifid weakly prickly leaves : heads iu a naked 

 panicle, hemispherical : bracts of the involucre small ; outer ones subulate, cuspidate-tipped : 

 corollas white, or possibly flesh-color: larger pappus-bristles strongly clavellate at tip. — 

 Cirsium Wrightii, Gray, PI. Wright, ii. 101. — Near springs, S. W. Texas and E. Arizona, 

 Wright. 



