120 THE WEEDS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Saffron or False Star Thistle (Carthamus lanatus L.). 

 (COMPOSITE: Thistle Family.) 



Other Vernacular Names. As people usually call this " Star Thistle," T 

 have simply prefixed the word " false " for a reason indicated below. 

 Baron von Mueller proposed the name " Saffron Thistle " for it. It is, of" 

 course, open to the objection that it has nothing to do with saffron; its- 

 congener (C. tinctorius) is the well-known safflower of India, sometimes said 

 to be used for adulterating saffron. But in adopting the name Saffron 

 Thistle, I have taken into account the fact that in the illustrated work on 

 thistles (by Baron von Mueller), issued by the kindred Department of 

 Agriculture of another State, this name is employed, and it would be a 

 convenience to adopt a uniform vernacular nomenclature for the pest. But 

 whether the public of these two great States will take the slightest notice- 

 of these benevolent efforts to save confusion, time alon^ will tell. My own 

 opinion is that they won't, and having started to call it " Star Thistle," 

 star thistle it will remain to the end of time. It is called " Chinese Thistle " 

 in the Gunnedah district, and "Yellow Chinese Thistle" (to distinguish it 

 from the " Pink Chinese Thistle," Centaurea calcitrapa) in the Grenfell 

 district. But the Mongolians are not responsible for its introduction. 



Synonym. Kentrophyllum lanatum DC., et Dub. By many authors at 

 the present day (notably Bentham and Hooker, Genera Plantarum), Ken- 

 trophyllum is included under Carthamus, of which the best known species 

 is C . tinctorius, the safflower of India. 



Following is tne earliest record I can find of the Saffron or False Star 

 Thistle in Australia : " Woolly Kentrophyllum (Kentrophyllum lanatum 

 DC.), a native of 'the Mediterranean coast; a great nuisance. It is of 

 modern introduction. Cattle and sheep do not eat the plant, and its exten- 

 sion becomes very rapid, especially in the north and south. In 1887, the 

 Legislature passed an Act for preventing the further spread of this thistle, 

 but which was then erroneously thought to be the true Star Thistle, 

 Centaurea calcitrapa. The further spread of the true Star Thistle should 

 also be prevented." (Schomburgk, Annual Report Botanic Gardens, Ade- 

 laide, 1888, p. 23.) 



The South Australian Act referred to is No. 409, assented to 9th 

 December, 1887, and its title is "An Act for amending the Act. No. 26 of 

 1862, and for preventing the further spread of the Star Thistle." 



Mr. Albert Molineux, General Secretary of the Agricultural Bureau of 

 South Australia, says of it: " K. lanatum is eaten to some extent by stock, 

 and it might make ensilage; it is not worse than Onopordon acanthium 

 (true Scotch thistle). I hope, however, this will not convey the impression 

 that it is anything but a real nuisance. 



f< Star Thistle as Fodder. Mr. Margarey, Narracoorte Branch, Agricul- 

 tural Bureau, S.A., noticing a query in the report of the Burra Branch 

 in the Journal for April as to whether star thistles had ever been utilised 

 as food for any animal, reported that he had mown and cocked a large- 



