362 LXXVIII. COMPOSITE. (J. D. Hooker.) [Cnicus.. 



87. CNICUS, Linn. 



Characters of Carduus, but outer invol. bracts foliaceous and pappus hairs 

 feathery (unequal with the longer clavellate in all the Indian species). DISTRIB. 

 Species about 150, all N. temperate regions. 



SECT. I. Heads dioecious. Corolla-limb 5-partite. Achenes linear-oblong, 

 compressed. 



1. C. arvensis, Hoffm. ; stem not winged cobwebby tomentose above, 

 leaves sessile sinuate or pinnatifid, lobes divergent and tips spinescent tomentose 

 beneath, heads solitary fascicled or corymbose, invol. bracts glabrate or cobwebby 

 outermost short ovate or triangular-ovate ending in a short spine, inner gradu- 

 ally longer with undulate often recurved tips, innermost narrow linear-lanceolate 

 scarious. Clarke Comp. Ind. 216. 0. candicans, Wall Cat. 2893, B. E. F. 

 Oirsium arvense, Scop, j DC. Prodr. vi. 643; Boiss. Fl. Orient, iii. 552. C. 

 Stocksii, Boiss. Diagn. 2, iii. 40. Oarduus lanatus, Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 408. 

 Aplotaxis cirsioides and A. ? pungens, DC. I. c. 540, 539. 



BENGAL and G-ANGETIC PLAINS, from the Sonderbunds north-westward to the PUN- 

 JAB. WESTBBN HIMALAYA, from Kashmir to Kumaon. WESTERN TIBET, alt. 1 1-1 3,000 

 ft. DISTRIB. N. Asia and westward to the Atlantic. 



Erect ; stems many from the perennial creeping roots, usually simple, leafy, 2-3 

 ft., the sexes forming separate tufts. Leaves 35 in., more or less woolly beneath. 

 Heads variable or shortly peduncled, $ globose, ^-1 in. diam., ? much longer, more 

 campanulate, with more lax invol. bracts ; corolla dingy purple. Achenes smooth, 

 shining; pappus brownish white. A pest in English fields. 



SECT. II. Heads bisexual. Corolla-limb 5-lobed. Achenes shortly oblong, 

 compressed. 



* Invol. bracts all spinulose, inner not dilated at the tip. 



2. C. involucratus, DC. Prodr. vi. 639 (Oirsium), excl. syn. ; tall, stout, 

 erect, leaves setulose above white-tomentose beneath teeth and lobes spinescent, 

 radical petioled pinnate, segments lanceolate sinuate-lobed or -toothed, cauline 

 broader cordate-amplexicaul ovate or lanceolate pinnatifid, heads l^-2 in. diam. 

 solitary or fascicled involucrate, invol. bracts glabrate all ending in slender erect 

 or subrecurved spines or a few innermost linear acuminate, corolla 1 in. long. 

 C. Eriophorus, var. involucratus, Clarke Comp. Ind. 217. 



TEMPERATE HIMALAYA ; from Kashmir to Bhotan, alt. 8-12,000 ft. 



Stem as thick below as the little finger, 2-6 ft. high, branched above. Leaves, 

 radical a foot long, pinnatifid to the middle or deeper, or to the base with distant 

 lobes. Heads inclined ; corolla glabrous. Achenes \ in. long, obovoid-oblong, mar- 

 gins obtuse ; pappus in., brown. Western specimens of this have more rigid leaves, 

 spinescent above, and longer stronger invol. spines than the Sikkim ones have. De, 

 Candolle describes the corollas as purple, which they appear to be when dry, but they 

 are pale yellow-white when fresh. I have gathered in E. Nipal withered specimens of 

 a plant like this, but with the leaves quite glabrous above and many rows of inner 

 invol. bracts with soft reflexed flat wrinkled tips. I have also seen in Sikkim and the 

 Khasia leaves supposed to belong to this species that are quite glabrous above. 



VAB. horrida ; more rigid, leaves more densely setulose above and spines much 

 stronger. Khasia Mts., alt. 5-7000 ft. ; Kumaon, alt. 9000 ft., Strach. $ Winter. 



3. C. argfyracantlms, DC. Prodr. 640 (Cirsium) ; stem cottony, 

 leaves glabrous above cottony or glabrate beneath lobes and teeth strongly 

 spinescent, radical petioled pinnatifid lobes rounded, cauline broader cordate- 

 amplexicaul, heads f-1 in. diam. sessile densely fascicled involucrate, invol. 

 bracts with woolly margins and long strong erect or spreading spines, innermost 



