456 SYNGENESIA : POLYGAMIA iEQUALIS. 



CARDUUS foliis amplexicaulibus lanceolatis cili- 

 atis integris laciniatifque, caulc fubunifloro, ca- 

 lyce inermi. Sp. pi. 1154. {Pet. herb, t. 22. /. i. 

 Ger. em. 1183. /. 5. i^ jig. Cirfd anglici Loheliu 

 Moris, hijf.f. 7. /. 29./. 13 ^ 12. i^ fortaffe 11) 



Soft or gentle Thiftle. Anglis. 



In low marfhy paftures and by the fides of lakes, 

 but not common. We obferv'd it in the ifland 

 of IJla. %. VII. 



The root is fibrous, creeping, and fometimes tu- 

 berous : the ftalk is eredt, from fix to twenty- 

 four inches high, fingle, and covered with white 

 woolly down : the radical leaves are acutely el- 

 liptical, about three or four in number, fome- 

 times intire on the edges, fometimes pinnatifid, 

 particularly near the bafe, with fhort kgments, 

 always white and woolly underneath, and fome- 

 times {lightly fo above, and ciliated on the edges 

 with fmall mnocent prickles : the ftalk has ge- 

 nerally one or two leaves upon it near the root, 

 which embrace it at the bafe, but without auri- 

 cles : bcfides thefe there is a lanceolate rudimen- 

 tal leaf or braSledSLf placed about the middle of 

 the ftalk : one large head of purple ftpwers ter- 

 minates the ftalk, and fometimes another arifes 

 upon a peduncle a little below it : the head of 

 the flowers is an inch long, and three quarters of 

 an Inch wide : the fcales of the calyx are lanceo- 

 late, erefl, a little woolly, of a dull purple co- 

 lor on the back and at the fummits, pointed, 

 but not pungent : the ftyles are longer than the 

 mthera : the down on the feeds plumole. 



