Centaurea.] Lxxiii. composite: (oliver and hiern). 439 



ones petiolate, ranging up to 3 by 1 in. ; teeth pointed, not spinous. 

 Capitula solitary, heterogamous, pedunculate, campannlate, | in. long; 

 peduncle about IJ in. long, terminal. Involucral bracts in many rows, 

 not appendaged, imbricated, inner ones linear, outer lanceolate or 

 ovate, successively shorter ; tips acute, not spinous, blackish find thinly 

 cottony on the margins. Florets pale blue, outer ones neuter, longer 

 than the hermaphrodite fertile inner ones. Anther-base with long 

 linear tails. Achenes (young) not quite glabrous. Pappus paleaceous, 

 denticulate, exceeded by the paleaceous setas of the receptacle. 



irile Ziand. Somali-land, 6,000 ft. alt., April, 1876, Hildehrandt ! 



The last two species scarcely differ, if at all, from the genus Volutarelln, Cass. 

 (Amberboa, Isnard). " 



Amherboa sinaica, DC, is given by Schweinfurth and Ascherson, Enum. p. 283, as 

 occurring in Nubia ; according to Boissier, Fl. Orient, iii. p. 606, this species occurs 

 in Egypt, Arabia and Palestine. 



100. CARTHAMUS, Linn. ; Benth. et JEook. f. Gen. PI. ii. p. 483. 



Capitula homogamous ; florets all fertile (rarely outer 1-seriate ? or 0). 

 Involucre ovoid or subglobose ; bracts oo-seriate, imbricate below, the 

 outer or intermediate foliaceous and spinescent in wild forms. Recep- 

 tacle plane, eetose. Pappus more or less paleaceous, oo-seriate, occa- 

 sionally 0.^ — Thistle-like rigid herbs, with alternate spinose-pinnatifid 

 or spinulose-serrate leaves and terminal solitary or cymose rather large 

 often fiercely involucrate scarlet yellow whitish or rose capitula. 

 Chiefly confined to the Mediterranean region and Levant. 

 Papptis 0, or of the central florets altogether short. Leaves 



undivided I. C. tinctorius. 



Pappus (of the central florets) in many rows, inner rows suc- 

 cessively longer. Leaves pinnatifid. 

 More or less pilose. Floral leaves about 1 in. long . . . 2. C. lanatus. 

 Nearly glabrous. Floral leaves about 1^2 in. long ... 3. C. ieucocarpus. 



1. C. tinctorius, Linn. Sp. Pl.^ edit. i. 830. A glabrous erect 

 leafy annual, branched above. St^m-leaves sessile, ovate-oblong, acute, 

 mucronate, spinulose-denticulate, 1-3 in. long or more; floral ones 

 similar, 1-lJ in. long. Capitula 1-1^^ in. thick. Pappus wanting 

 from the outer florets, very short on the central ones. — A. Rich. Fl. 

 Abyss, i. p. 454. 



Wile Ziand. Nubia, Sennaar and Abyssinia, cultivated and perhaps indigenous. 

 Yields the commercial dye called ''Safflower. ' 



Widely cultivated in Northern India and the East. 



2. C lanatua, Linn. Sp. Pl.^ edit. i. p. 830. Erect more or less 

 pilose annual, simple below, 1^2 ft. high. Leaves pinnatifid, spinous, 

 1-2 in. long ; the upper ones sessile, acute, semi-amplexicaul, lanceo- 

 late ; floral ones similar. — Kentrophyllum lanatum, DC. et Dub. ; DC. 

 Prodr. vi. p. 610; A. Rich. Fl. Abyss, i. p. 454 (var. abygsinicum) . 



Xrile Xiand. Abyssinia (introduced ?), Q. Billon; Petit; Schimper ! 

 Widely cultivated ; it extends, according to Boissier, Fl. Orient, iii. p. 707, to the 

 Mediterranean region, the Canary Islands and Madeira. 



