108 FAMILIAR WILD FLO WEES. 



to distinguish it from most of our thistles, though one or 

 two others exhibit the same characteristic in a minor 

 degree. The marsh-thistle flowers by about the end of 

 June, and lasts some considerable time in blossom. It is 

 abundantly met with in moist low-lying meadows through- 

 out Britain. The dwarf thistle, Cuicus acaulis, or stalkless 

 thistle, is a species of very common occurrence in the south 

 and some central districts of England, but is not freely 

 found elsewhere in our islands. It is abundantly met with 

 on dry pasturage, and more especially on gravel and chalk. 

 It is at once distinguished from all our other species by the 

 absence of a stem. Its numerous small and very prickly 

 leaves spread out in a circle close to the turf, and from the 

 centre rises one or more flower-heads, the entire plant being 

 thus only three or four inches high. The flowers are 

 rather large and of a deep purple colour, and have a some- 

 what quaint effect as they are seen just emerging from 

 the short springy grass on the face of some great swelling 

 down. The plant is a perennial, and flowers during July, 

 August, and September. 



