1030 Compositae. 
596. (56.) Onopordon Linn. 
Heads homogamous, many-and equal-flowered. Scales of the in- 
volucre leathery, entire, spiny-tipped. Receptacle fleshy, honeycombed, 
cells membranous, sinuate-toothed. Corolla ringent. Filaments free, 
glabrous, anthers 2-lobed at the base, tipped with an awl-shaped 
appendage. Achenes ovate, 4-angled, somewhat compressed, hilum 
at the base. Pappus caducous, bristles scabrous or feathery, united 
at the base in a ring. — Tall, spiny herbs, usually with large heads. 
A small genus widely distributed in the Mediterranean region. 
A. Stems with prickly wings ....-...-.. 1. O. Sibthorpianum. 
B,-Stems: with spiny Wings <4 $<. s)cbe =the 2. O. ambiguum. 
1432. Onopordon Sibthorpianum Boiss. and Heldr. ap. Heldr. 
Flor. graec. exsicc. no. 1917. — Boiss. Flor. Or. III (1875), p. 561. 
— Aschers.-Schweinf. Ill. Flor. d’Eg., p. 95 no. 603. — Aschers.- 
Schweinf. Ill. Flor. d’Eg., Supplem. p. 765. — Aschers. Flor. Rhinocol., 
p. 799 no. 157. — Onopordon macranthum Sibth. and Smith Flor. 
graec. IX, p. 23 tab. 832 not of Schousb. — A biennial herb, 1 m 
high or sometimes somewhat more, more or less woolly-canescent; 
stem and branches with very narrow, spiny wings. Root-leaves 
oblong-lanceolate, pinnatitid or parted into spiny-tipped lobes; stem- 
leaves smaller, decurrent. Heads globular, 4—8 cm in diameter, 
truncate or concave at the base; spines of the involucre-scales much 
longer than the apressed, oblong base, the outer spreading or reflexed. 
— Flow. March to April. 
M. ma. Behig; (Muschler). 
Also known from Greece and Algeria. 
var. alexandrinum Boiss. Flor. Or. HI (1875), p. 562. — Aschers.- 
Schweinf. Ill. Flor. d’Eg., p. 95 no. 603. — Aschers.-Schweinf. Primit. 
Flor. Marmaric., p. 656 no. 185. — Aschers.-Schweinf. Ill. Flor. d’Kg., 
Supplem. p. 765. — Onopordon alexandrinum Boiss. Diagn. Plant. 
Or., Ser. I fase. X p. 93. — Onopordon carduiforme Boiss. Diagn. 
Plant. Or., Ser. I fasc. X p. 92. — Less woolly, cobwebby, greyish. 
Leaves sometimes pinnately divided. — Flow. March to April. 
M. ma. Marmarica: Ras-el-Keni’is; Mariut; Montaza; Alexan- 
dria-West and -Hast. — M. p. El-‘Arish. 
Local name: shok-el-hannash (Schweinfurth). 
Also known from Palestine. 
1433. (2.) Onopordon ambiguum F'res. in Mus. Senckenberg. I. 
(1835), p. 85. — Boiss. Flor. Or. II, p. 562. — Aschers.-Schweinf. 
Ill. Flor. @’Eg., Supplem. p. 765. — A biennial plant, 30—60 em 
