194 The Romance of Wild Flowers 
The Plume Thistles (Cnicus) are very similar to 
the genus Carduus, but the pappus-hairs are here 
formed much like little feathers, and there is a 
tendency on the part of the heads to consist largely 
of florets that produce either stamens or pistils only, 
and to include few perfect florets. The Spear Plume- 
thistle (C. lanceolatus) is a fine example of the genus, 
growing to a height of four or five feet, with handsome 
lower leaves, sometimes a foot in length. These larger 
Thistles, before they begin to develop their stems, 
form very beautiful leaf-rosettes a foot or so across, 
of perfect symmetry, the dagger-like spines pointing 
in every direction. 
One species, the Dwarf Plume-thistle (C. acawlis), 
seldom develops its stem at all, but is content to 
spread its leaf-rosette and to finish this off by pro- 
ducing one central flower-head an inch or two across, 
of crimson colour, which has a fine but singular_ 
appearance in the midst of the dark spiny rosette. 
I fear the beauty of this plant is quite lost upon the 
farmer who finds it disfiguring his pastures. A worse 
pest to the farmer is the Creeping Plume-thistle 
(C. arvensis), which is not content with sending clouds 
of parachute-borne seeds to spring up all over his 
and his neighbours’ lands, but seeks to take posses- 
sion of an entire field when once it has got a footing, 
by sending out underground runners from its rootstock, 
and though the farmer may prevent seeding by 
energetically cutting off its heads before flowering, 
the cluinp still continues to enlarge. It is a beautiful 
sight on a sunny morning late in autumn, to see a 
pasture or piece of waste where this Thistle has taken 
possession and been allowed to produce its seeds. 
