Carduus.'] Lxxvm. COMPOSITE. (J. D. Hooker.) 361 



invol. bracts cobwebby triangular-lanceolate ^ in. long ending in very stout 

 spreading Hat keeled spines, innermost narrowly spathulate scarious shining 

 apiculate serrate above, receptacular bristles scabrid, pappus 0. C. ? Hystrix, 

 Clarke Comp. Ind. 214, not of C. A. Meyer. 



KASHMIR, alt. 5-6000 ft., Falconer, Thomson. DISTRIB. Afghanistan, Persia. 



A slender species, well characterised by the runcinate radical leaves, winged stems, 

 and absence of pappus. 



86. CARDUUS, Linn. 



Erect thistles. Leaves alternate, often decurrent, serrate-toothed or pinnati- 

 fid, spinescent. Heads solitary and long-peduncled or subsessile, scattered or 

 crowded, homogamous ; fl. all Q and fertile (rarely dioecious), white yellow or 

 red, tube slender, limb equal or oblique 5-fid. Involucre ovoid hemispheric or 

 globose ; bracts oo -seriate, appressed, erect spreading or recurved and spinescent 

 or with a spinescent appendage ; receptacle flat or convex, densely bristly. 

 Filaments hairy or glabrous. Anther-bases sagittate, auricles connate, tails 

 slender. Style-arms short, rarely filiform, obtuse. Achenes glabrous, obovoid, 

 obtusely 4-angled, smooth or 5-10-ribbed, truncate or the top umbonate, basal 

 areole nearly straight ; pappus copious, hairs co -seriate, rigid, simple or barbel- 

 late, deciduous with a basal ring. DISTRIB. Species about 30 ; temp. Europe, 

 N. Africa and Asia. 



1. C. nutans, L. ; Boiss. FL Orient, iii. 515 ; biennial, cobwebby, tall, 

 stem interruptedly winged, wings spinulous, leaves entire 1-2-pinnatifid waved 

 spinous, heads f-1^ in. diam. solitary or fascicled hemispheric or subcampanu- 

 late inclined or drooping, invol. bracts subulate-lanceolate outer or all terminat- 

 ing in a spreading erect or reflexed spine, flowers crimson. DC. Prodr. vi. 

 621 ; Reich. Ic. Fl Germ. 146 : Clarke Comp. Ind. 215. C. lucidus, Wall Cat. 

 2895. 



WESTERN HIMALAYA; from Kashmir to Simla, alt. 6-12,000 ft. ; and Hazara, in 

 the PUNJAB. WESTERN TIBET; Nubra, alt. 13,000 ft., Thomson. DISTRIB. N.Asia, 

 and westward to N. Africa and W. Europe. 



A tall stout thistle ; stem 1-3 ft., usually simple, grooved, wing sinuous. Leaves 

 6-12 in., variable. Achenes pale brown, glabrous, granulate. Thomson, as quoted 

 by Clarke, remarks that the Himalayan plant is intermediate between C. nutans and 

 C. crispus, L. (C. acanthoides, Sm.), which has smaller more erect fascicled heads: the 

 fact is that the Indian specimens show every transition between the large stout form 

 of C. nutans with subsolitary heads 1^ in. diam., which is its typical European state, 

 and a more slender form with fascicled or solitary or subracemose or panicled heads 

 |-1 in. diam. The invol. bracts are erect or recurved, though not so strongly as in 

 most Western forms. A specimen collected by Jaeschke in Labul has fascicled globose 

 heads 1 in. diam., with the invol. bracts all short and very strongly recurved. Most 

 of the Indian specimens exactly accord with a supposed hybrid between C. nutans and 

 <?rispus found near Munich, and called C. acanthoides-nutans. 



2. C. Thomson!, Hook. /"; short, very robust, cottony or cobwebby above, 

 leaves linear-oblong or lanceolate from a broadly auricled sessile base subpinna- 

 tifidly lobed strongly spinous very coriaceous shining, heads 2-3 in. diam. few 

 fascicled or s, bcorymbose inclined densely woolly, invol. bracts short with a 

 long strong spreading or recurved spine. Carduus ?, Clarke Comp. Ind. 215. 



WESTERN TIBET; Ladak, alt. 12-13,000 ft., Thomson. 



Annual; 12-18 in. high, leafy; stem simple, strongly ribbed. Leaves 6-8 in., 

 lowest narrowed at the base, upper dilated, spines very strong horizontal. Invol 

 bracts 1 in. long, outer with spinulose margins ; recept. bristles very dense, \ in. long; 

 corolla very slender, glabrous, 1^ in.; filaments quite glabrous; anther-bracts very 

 long, laciniate. Achenes nearly \ in., glabrous; pappus hairs stiff, very unequal, 

 r longest 1% in. 



