38 FLOWERS OF THE HILLS AND DRY PLACES 



nanl. Gcrardc says of the first: " In Enoiish ii may be called the 

 cinnamon roote . . . by reason of that svveete and aromaticall savour 

 which his roote conteinneth and yieldeth ". It was supposed when 

 huiiL^ up in a room to drive away t^nats and lleas. 



Essential Si'i:cii'ic Characters: — 



154. Inula S(//iarrosa, B(;rnh. — Stem tall, tlow ny, leaves dull-green, 

 ovate, lanceolate, downy, dentate, tlowerheads yellow, terminal, in a 

 corymb, scales of the involucre reflexed, pappus red. 



Cotton Thistle (Onopordon Acanihium, L.) 



The present distribution of this plant is Europe and Siberia, and 

 it is merely an introduction in N. America. There is no evidence 

 as to its occurrence in early deposits. In (ireat Britain in the PePiin- 

 sula province it is absent from S. Somerset, in the Channel province 

 from \V. .Sussex; it occurs throughout the Thames and Anglia pro- 

 vinces; in the Severn province not in Ciloucs; whilst in Wales it is 

 found in Carmarthen, Pembroke, Montgomery, Carnarvon, Denbigh, 

 and I'lint, and it is found in the Trent province generally, except in 

 Derby, not in Mid Lanes in the Mersey province, in the H umber 

 province not in S.E. or .S.W. Yorks, in the Isle of Man, in Lanark, 

 Roxburgh, Berwick. Haddington, Edinburgh, Fife, .Stirling, E. Ross. 

 Elsewhere it is |)robably not native, and is an alien or denizen. 



The Cotton Thistle, where it is a native, is a plant of dry places, 

 and elsewhere it is merely a casual lound in waste places, in gardens, 

 and where it has been sown by man consciously or unconsciously, like 

 manv other plants which now have a sort of temporary home with us 

 but whose native origin is under suspicion. 



While not a true thistle, the Cotton Thistle is even taller than the 

 Marsh Thistle, and with its fine heads of bloom and whitish foliage 

 and stems it is far more imposing. 



With .spreading branches it thus forms (]uite a magnificent orna- 

 ment for gardens. The woody stems are Ireely continuously winged. 

 The leaves are egg-shaped, oblong, stalkle.ss, wavy, decurrent, toothed, 

 covered both sides with woolly down, and very spinous. 



The fiowerheads are numerous, terminal, purple, upright, in a 

 nearly rountl involucre, with spreading awl-like phyllaries or whorls of 

 bracts. The receptacle bears scales. The tubular florets are com- 

 plete. It is 4 to 10 ft. in height. The flowers bloom in July ;md 

 August. The plant is biennial, reproduced by seed.s. 



The flowerhead is much like that of Carduus but does not bear 



