CAR 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL 



CAR 



lanceolate, quite entire, the edge with ternate spines. This 

 is a biennial plant, which rises six feet high, with an upright 

 stalk. The flowers come out in clusters from the top of the 

 stalk; they are purple, and are succeeded by smooth, oval, 

 black seeds. Native of the south of Europe. 



24. Carduus Stellatus ; Starry Thistle. Leaves sessile, 

 entire, lanceolate, unarmed, tomentose beneath ; spines 

 branched, axillary; flowers sessile, lateral. Stem a foot 

 high, straight, round, cottony, it divides at top into several 

 branches, each ending in a spiny head, under which are 

 three leaves ; floscules purple. Annual ; and a native of 

 Sicily and the county of Nice. The seeds of this plant 

 should be sown upon abed of light earth in the spring, where 

 the plants are to remain, for they do not bear transplanting 

 unless performed when they are very young. The only care 

 they require is, to keep them clear from weeds, and to thin 

 them where they come too close together. 



25. Carduus Marianus ; Milk Thistle or Ladies' Thistle. 

 Leaves stem-clasping, hastate- pinnatifid, spiny ; calices leaf- 

 less ; spines channelled, doubly spined. The radical leaves 

 spread on the ground, from one to two feet or more in length 

 with white veins on the upper surface. The beautiful milky 

 veins, forming an irregular net-workon the leaves, wouldform 

 an obvious character to distinguish this species, if they were 

 not sometimes found wholly green : in which case recourse 

 must be had to the strong spines of the calix. It is found 

 upon banks, by road-sides, and in waste places ; flowering 

 from May and June till July and August. It is a biennial, 

 and eaten when young as a salad, and is by some persons 

 blanched, and dressed as a curious dish. The tender leaves 

 stripped of their spines, are boiled and eaten as greens ; the 

 young stalks peeled, are excellent, after their bitterness is 

 extracted by soaking them in water ; and the scales of the 

 calix are as good as those of Artichokes; the root is good to 

 eat early in the spring. The seeds are large, and contain a 

 portion of oil, whence they have sometimes been used in emul - 

 sions, to thin the blood, and to cure stitches and pleurisies, 

 for which purpose they are still prescribed by the German 

 physicians, in doses of from one to three drachms each. The 

 Italian physicians give the expressed juice in agues. Grani- 

 vorous small birds, particularly goldfinches, feed much upon 

 the seeds of this and other Thistles. In Apulia this plant is 

 grown in preference to grass, on account of its yielding a 

 larger quantity of food for the cattle. It makes a handsome 

 appearance, and deserves a place in all large gardens. 



16. CarduuS Syriacus ; Syrian Thistle. Leaves stem- 

 clasping, angula-spiny ; flowers solitary, subsessile, fortified 

 with about five leaflets. Flowers white ; in the ^Egyptian 

 variety purple. It is annual ; and a native of Syria, Crete, 

 and Spain. 



2". Carduus Eriophorus; Woolly -headed Thistle. Leaves 

 sessile, pinnatifid, in two rows ; divisions alternate, erect ; 

 calices globular, villose. Stem four or five feet high, angular, 

 striated, woolly without thorns, much branched ; floscules 

 purple, sometimes white ; style much longer than the an- 

 thereae ; down shorter than the corolla, fringed with long 

 hairs. The receptacle is pulpy and esculent, like that of the 

 artichoke. It is biennial; flowering from July till September, 

 and frequents dry pastures, road-sides, and waste places, in 

 Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Car- 

 niola, Spain, and Portugal. It is the most showy of all the 

 Thistles, and ought therefore to be introduced into large 

 gardens, where it will not flower until the second year ; but 

 when once admitted, will sow and maintain itself without 

 requiring any further care. 



28. Carduus Altissunus; Giant Thistle. Leaves sessile, 



pinnatifid, sinuate, serrate unarmed; stem very branching ; 

 calices villose, subserrate. Stature ten or twelve feet ; corolla 

 pale purple ; down plumose. Imported from Carolina. 



29. Carduus Virginianus; VirginianThistle. Leaves lan- 

 ceolate, spinulous, tomentose, beneath ; stem unarmed, 

 leafy, one-flowered. Stem slender, a foot or eighteen inches 

 high ; corolla purple. Imported from Virginia. 



30. Carduus Heterophyllus. Leaves stem-clasping, lan- 

 ceolate, ciliate, entire, and laciniate; stem witn one or two 

 flowers ; calix unarmed. Root perennial, creeping ; stem 

 erect, quite simple, striated, tomentose, about eighteen inches 

 high; leaves half stem-clasping, serrate, the serratures spiny, 

 the middle nerve white, alternate, the bottom ones petioled ; 

 flower one, purple, terminal; calix ovate; scales acute, some- 

 what spined. Perennial : flowering in July, and abounding 

 in moist meadows and marshy places. 



31. Carduus Helenioides ; Melancholy Thistle. Leaves 

 stem-clasping, lanceolate, toothed ; spinules unequal, ciliate ; 

 stem unarmed. The stem is above a foot high when wild, but 

 generally double that height in gardens; where the leaves grow 

 so much larger, that it seems a different plant ; they are of a 

 shining green on the upper side. The roots creep far under 

 the surface. It has been cultivated in the gardens of some 

 quacks, who pretended to cure madness with it ; and from 

 that circumstance in all probability obtained the name of 

 Melancholy Thistle. It is found in mountainous pastures in 

 Yorkshire, Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Wales ; at Mul- 

 barton near Norwich ; Acton in Glocestershire; in a meadow 

 near Highgate ; on Hounslow Heath ; near Croydon; and in 

 Scotland. Perennial : flowering in July. 



32. Carduus Serratuloides ; Saw-wort Thistle. Leaves 

 rather stem-clasping, lanceolate, entire ; serratures spiny-se- 

 taceous ; peduncles one-flowered. Stem solitary, from a foot 

 and a half to three feet in height, simple, one-flowered, or di- 

 vided into few elongated erect peduncles, striated, frequently 

 flexuose, woolly as if covered with a cobweb, leafy to about 

 half the height, the rest lefless and of a dusky purple ; flos- 

 cules purple ; seeds pale shining ; down plumose. Native 

 of Siberia, Switzerland, Austria, Carniola, Piedmont, and 

 Montpellier. 



33. Carduus Tataricus ; Tartarian Thistle Leaves stem- 

 clasping, lanceolate ; serratures spiny-setaceous ; flowers 

 three-leaved. Stem a foot and a half high, smooth, some- 

 times simple, sometimes branched, each bearing a yellowish- 

 white flower. Perennial. Native of Siberia. 



34. Carduus Ciliatus; Ciliate Thistle. Leaves half stem - 

 clasping, pinnatifid, lanciniate, spiny-tomentose beneath ; 

 scales of the calix ciliate, reflex at the base. Corolla pur- 

 ple-red ; seeds scarcely four-cornered, and of a pale purple. 

 Native of Siberia. 



35. Carduus Flavescens. Leaves lanceolate, entire, un- 

 armed, toothed, smooth ; flowers leafless, weak-spiny. Stem 

 eighteen inches high, upright, grooved, smooth, sparingly 

 branched ; corolla yellowish white ; seeds turbinare, four- 

 cornered ; down plumose, very abundant. Found in Spain 

 by Loefling, and in Silesia by Krocker. 



36. Carduus Rivularis. Leaves at bottom pinnatifid into 

 oblong divisions, at top entire and serrate, weak-spiny, ses- 

 sile ; stem unarmed ; flowers in heads ; root perennial. The 

 stem is usually single, two or three feet high, erect, round, 

 hollow, a little villose angular at bottom, striated at top, 

 generally quite simple, but sometimes it puts forth short 

 one-flowering branches from some, seldom from all the 

 axils ; corollules purple. It is found in moist meadows, and 

 begins to flower in the middle of May. 



37. Carduus Mollis. Leaves pinnatifid, linear, tomentos* 



