Silybum. 1029 
M. ma. M. p. N. d. N.f. N. v. O. D. a. sept. Cultivated every- 
where and often subspontaneous. 
Local name: kharshif. 
Also known from the other parts of the Mediterranean region. 
595. (55.) Silybum Gaertn. 
Heads many-flowered; flowerets equal, homogamous. Involucre 
imbricated, the outer scales spiny-tipped, with spinulose-ciliate margins. 
Receptacle fleshy, fringed with bristles. Filaments papillose, mona- 
delphous; anthers with short appendages. Achenes obovate laterally 
compressed, smooth, with hilum at the base, and elevated margin 
at the apex. Pappus consisting of several rows of scabrous bristles 
united at the base into a deciduous ring. — Spiny herbs with aspect 
of Carduus. 
A small genus widely distributed in the Orient. 
1431. Silybum Marianum (L.) Gaertn. De Fruct. II (1791) 
tab. 102. — Boiss. Flor. Or. HI], p. 556. — Rchbch. Ic. XVI tab. 151. 
— Aschers.-Schweinf. Ill. Flor. d’Eg., p. 95 no. 600. — A biennial 
plant 1—2 m high, glabrous, pale green; stem simple or slightly 
branching. Leaves large, mottled with white, pinnatifid into ovate- 
triangular, sinuate-toothed, spiny lobes. Heads globular 6—10 cm 
broad, concave at the base; outer scales of the involucre oblong at 
the base, broadening into an ovate, prickly-ciliate, margined appen- 
dage which tapers abruptly into a long, stiff spine; inner scales 
lanceolate, entire. — Flow. March to April. 
N. d. Damanhur; Fia; Er-Rahmaniya; Tanta; Shirbin; Mansura; 
Zifta; Zaqaziq; Qalyub; Cairo. — N. f. Medinet-el-Fayim; Kom- 
Faris; Senhur; Tamia; Kafr Mukfiit; Fidemin; Gharaq; Matar Tares. 
—N.v. Kafr-el-Ayyat; Beni-Suéf; Feshn; Minia; Siut; Ekhmim; 
Girga; Farshit; Luksor; Esne; Aswan. — O. Little Oasis; Dakhel; 
Great Oasis. 
Local name: shék-el-ghazal (Ascherson); lekhlikh (Schweinfurth). 
Also known from Greece, Syria and Palestine, Mesopotania and Persia. 
var. pygmaeum (Cass.) Boiss. Flor. Or. III (1875), p. 556. — 
Aschers.-Schweinf. Ill. Flor. d’Eg., p. 95 no. 600. — Silybum pyg- 
maeum Cass. Dict. Scienc. Natur. L, p. 469. — Stem 30—40 cm 
high. — Flow. March to April. 
N. d. Mansura. 
Also known from Greece. 
