COMPOSITE FAMILY. 187 



C. Virginianum, .VIRGINIA T. Chiefly S. & W. on plains and barrens, 

 with rather simple steins 1 -3 high, ending in a long naked peduncle; leaves 

 lanceolate and slightly or not at all pinnatifid ; head small. ty 



C. discolor, TWO-COLORED T. Low grounds, 3 - 6 high, branching 

 and leafy, with rather small heads, and deeply pinnatifid leaves green above 

 white beneath, their lobes narrow and prickly pointed. (2; 



3. SILYBUM, MILK THISTLE. (An ancient Greek name.) 



S. Marianum, the only species, cult, in some gardens and rarely running 

 wild, from the Old World, well marked by its white-blotched or veined smooth 

 leaves with clasping baseband merely sinuate prickly margins ; flowers purple, 

 in late summer. (2) 



4. ONOPORDON", COTTON or SCOTCH THISTLE. (The ancient 

 Greek name.) 



O. Acanthium. Nat. from Eu. in waste places : tall, white-cottony, with 

 weak prickles on the sinuate-pinnatifid leaves and the broad leaf-like wings of 

 the stem and brandies ; flowers purple, late summer. 



5. LAPP A, BURDOCK. (Name from a Greek word meaning to lay hold 

 of, from the burs or hook-awncd heads.) 



L. offieinalis, var. MAJOR, the COMMON B., with large leaves loosely 

 cottony beneath, or somewhat naked, the lower heart-shaped, upper ovate, is 

 common in manured soil and barnyards. Var. MINOR is smaller and smoother, 

 with leaves tapering at the base, often cut-toothed or cleft. Fl. mostly purple, 

 all summer and autumn. (f) 



6. CARTHAMUS, SAFFLOWER, FALSE SAFFRON. (Arabic 

 name of the plant, from the properties of the orange-colored flowers, which 

 arc used in dying or coloring yellow, as a substitute for true Saffron.) 



C. tinctdrius, the only common species, cult, in country gardens, from the 

 Orient ; smooth, 6' - 12' high, with ovate-oblong leaves and large head, in 

 summer. 



7. CNICUS, BLESSED THISTLE. ( Greek name of a kind of Thistle. ) 

 C. benedictus, the only species, scarce in waste places S., from Eu. ; has 



much branched loosely woolly stems, leafy up to the rather small heads of yel- 

 lowish flowers, and pale pinnatifid leaves with slightly prickly edges. 



8. CENTAUREA, CENTAUREA or STAR-THISTLE. (Ancient 

 name, after Chiron the Centaur.) Fl. summer. 



1 . Flowers all alike in the head, the marginal ones not enlarged and ray-like : 

 pappus of very short bristles : scales of head with dark-fringed appendage. 



C. nigra, BLACK C. or KNAPWEED. A coarse weed, in fields and waste 

 places E., nat. from Eu. ; stem 2 high ; leaves roughish, lance-oblong, the 

 lower with some coarse teeth ; flowers purple. 2/ 



2. Marginal flowers more or less enlarged, forming a kind of false ray, and 

 sterile: pappus of bristles : scales of head with fringed appendage. 



C. Cineraria, or CANDIDISSIMA, a low species, cult, from S. Eu. with 

 very white-woolly twice pinnatifid leaves, and purple flowers, the outermost 

 little enlarged : not hardy N. 2/ 



C. Americana. Cult, from Arkansas and Texas : smooth, with stout 

 stem l-2 high, oblong or lance-oblong leaves, the upper entire, very large 

 head of showy pale purple flowers, the outer ones much enlarged, and the scales 

 with large scarious-fringed appendage. 



C. Cyanus, BLUEBOTTLE or CORNFLOWER. In gardens, from Eu., spar- 

 ingly running wild ; loosely cottony, with stem-leaves linear and mostly entire, 



