190 The Romance of Wild Flowers 
inner bracts are straw-coloured, and of the quality to 
which the popular term “everlasting” is apphed, but 
the outer ones are leafy with spiny teeth, and between 
these two kinds is a third set coloured purple. The 
florets are also purple, and these are all tubular; but 
the bracts are the most interesting feature of the 
flower-head, for these have hygroscopic properties, and 
during dry weather they expand widely. When the 
air is damp they assume an erect attitude, protecting 
the florets or the ripening fruits as the case may be. 
The heads are often gathered for decorative purposes, 
as they are very persistent in a dry state, and act as 
weather indicators by the conduct of the bracts. It 
may not be uninteresting to add that the names of 
the plant are said to commemorate the fact that 
Charlemagne and his army were saved from the 
plague by using this plant as a medicine, after an 
angel had pointed it out to him! Its healing qualities 
are said to be found in an acrid resin produced by it. 
Others contend that the name Carline is suggested by 
the withered appearance of the flower. See plate 20. 
The Knapweeds and Blue-bottle (Centaurea) come 
nearer to the Thistles. There is the same globose 
involucre, with a large number of closely over- 
lapping scales, in some species with broad marginal 
appendages, in others spiny or toothed. Here again 
all the florets are tubular, but the outer ones are 
greatly enlarged, and the five lobes of the corolla 
instead of being mere teeth, as in the Daisy group, 
are here drawn out to a great length, which gives the 
head a light appearance, when the bulk of the 
involucre would otherwise make it look heavy. 
Among the sturdy weeds that take possession of the 
