234 COMPOSITE. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 



whitened with hose ivebby hairs beneath when young, deeply pinnatifid, the uinsions 

 lanceolate, acute, cut-lobed, prickly-pointed ; scales of the webby and glutinous invo- 

 lucre closely appressed, pointless or barely mucronate; flowers purple. ]& 

 Swamps and low woods ; common. Aug. 



8. C. piiiiiiluiii, Spreng. (PASTURE THISTLE.) Stem low and stouf 



l-3 high), hairy, bearing 1 -3 very large heads (!' broad), which are some- 

 what leafy-bract*^ 1 , at the base; leaves lanceolate-oblong, partly clasping, green, 

 tomeichat hairy, pinnatijid, vrith short and cut very prickly-margined lobes; outer 

 scales of the involucre prickly-pointed, the inner very slender ; flowers purple or 

 rarely white (fragrant, 2' long). Dry fields, Maine to Penn., near th? 

 coast. Also Illinois and westward ; common. July. 



9. C. horrid ulum, Michx. (YELLOW THISTLE.) Stem stout (\ - 4P 

 high), webby-hmred when young; leaves partly clasping, green, soon smooth, 

 lanceolate, pinnatifid, the short toothed and cut lobes very spiny witli yellowish 

 prickles ; heads large ( 1 ' - 1 ' broad ) , surrounded at the base by an involuci'ate ivhorl 

 of leaf-like and very prickly bracts, which equal or exceed the narrow and unarmed 

 scales of the involucre ; flowers pale yellow, often turning purple iu fading. 

 Sandy fields, &c., Massachusetts to Virginia, and southward, near the coast. 

 June - Aug. 



* # * Outer scales of the appressed involucre barely prickly-pointed : filaments nearly 

 smooth: heads imperfectly dioecious. 



10. C. ARVENSE, Scop. (CANADA THISTLE.) Low, branched ; roots ex 

 tensively creeping; leaves oblong or lanceolate, smooth, or slightly wooll) 

 beneath, siriuate-pinnatifid, prickly-margined ; heads small and numerous ; flow- 

 ers rose-purple. \ Cultivated fields and pastures; common at the North: a 

 most troublesome weed, which it is extremely difficult to eradicate. July, Aug. 

 (Nat. from Eu.) 



68. CARDUUS, Tourn. PLDMELESS THISTLE. 



Bristles of the pappus naked (not plumose), merely rough or denticulate. 

 Otherwise as in Cirsium. (The ancient Latin name.) 



1. C. NtiTANS, L. (MosK THISTLE.) Leaves decurrent, sinuate, spiny; 

 heads solitary, drooping ; flowers purple, (g) Fields near Harrisburg, Penn., 

 Prof. Porter. (Adv. from Eu.) 



69. ONOPdRDON, Vaill. COTTON THISTLE. 



Heads and flowers nearly as in Cirsium. Scales of the involucre coriaceous, 

 tipped with a lanceolate prickly appendage. Receptacle deeply honeycombed. 

 Achenia 4-an.^led, wrinkled transversely. Bristles of the pappus numerous, 

 elender^not plumose, united at the base into a horny ring. Coarse, branching 

 herbs, with (1 < stems winged by the dccurrent base of the lobcd and toothed 

 somewhat prickly leaves. Heads large : flowers purple. 



1. O. ACANTHI UM, L. Stem (2 -4 high) and leaves cotton-woolly; scalei 

 linear-awl-shapod. Road-sides. New England. (Adv. from Eu.) 



