COMPOSIT/E 139 



C. acanthifolia All., with large cottony leaves in a flat rosette, and very 

 large heads; C. acaulis L., with very short stems and large and handsome 

 silvery heads ; and C. vulgaris L. grow in the hills and lower mountains. 



QALACTITES Manch. 



G. tomentosa Mcench. (Plate XIX). Biennial, thistle-like, 1-2 ft. high, erect, 

 branched above, tomentose. Leaves narrow-lanceolate, pinnatifid, prickly, green, 

 streaked with white above, white tomentose beneath. Heads oval. Flowers 

 pinkish-purple or deep lilac. A very common but attractive thistle, which lasts 

 long in water. 



Waste places and road-sides. April-July. 



Tyrimnus leilCOgraphus Cass. with cottony white prickly leaves, grows 

 in arid places on the littoral. Silybum Marianum Gaertn., the true Milk 

 Thistle, with large green leaves marbled with white above, and very prickly 

 heads, grows on road-sides and waste places as in England. 



ONOPORDON L. 



0. Acanthium L. Cotton Thistle. A tall, stout, spiny biennial, with white 

 tomentose leaves, sinuate and very decurrent. Heads globular, very large, stem 

 much winged. Flowers purple. 



Road-sides, rather rare, especially on the littoral. June- July. 



O. illyricum L. A somewhat similar plant with glandular corolla, longer 

 heads and broadly lanceolate, sharply acuminate involucral bracts. 

 Dry, sandy places and arid slopes. June-August. 



CARDUNCELLUS Adans. 



C. monspeliensium All. (Carthamus Carduncellus L.). A dwarf 

 thistle, 3-8 in. high, leafy. Leaves deeply pinr.atifid, leathery, 'green, glabrous ; 

 segments linear-lanceolate, spiny. Flowers blue. Bracts large, spreading. 



Arid hill-sides, rare. May-July. 



CIRSIUM Adans. 



C. trispinosum Mcench. (Charneepeuce Casabonas DC.) is well figured 

 by M. Jahandiez in " Cat. des Plantes du Var " and in " Annales Soc. Hist. Nat. 

 Toulon " (1913). The Isle of Levant is its only station in France, and its most 

 northern limit. Nyman says it was discovered there and written about by Casa- 

 bona in the sixteenth century. It is a tall, stiff, biennial thistle, unbranched and 

 glabrous. Leaves numerous, sessile, lanceolate, green and shining above, whitish 

 or reddish with tomentum beneath, edged with fine spines in bundles of 2-5. 

 Flowers purple. 



Among true Thistles the following are the more important of those occurring 

 on the Riviera : 



Cirsium Acarna Mcench, C. trispinosum Mcench. (the plant described 

 from the Isle of Levant), C. lanceolatum Hill., C. ferrox DC., C. monspes 

 sulanum All., C. tuberosum All., C. acaule Scop., C. arvense Scof>., 

 Carduus acicularis Bert., C. tenuiflorus Curt., C. pycnocephalus L., 

 C. litigiosus N. et B., C. spiniger Jord., C. nigrescens Vill., and C. 

 carlinifolius Lam. 



CNICUS L. 



C. benedictus L. A very dwarf pubescent annual. Leaves pinnatifid or 

 toothed, with strong white nerves. Outer involucral bracts long, and resembling 

 leaves, inner ones ending in a long spine with spreading prickles on each side. 

 Flowers yellow. Achenes brown, shining, shorter than the pappus. 



Fields and sandy places. May-July. 



CARTHAMUS L. 



C. cteruleus L. = Centrophyllum cjtruleum G. G. Leaves toothed or 

 pinnatifid, leathery, green, shining. Heads ovoid, rather large with very large 



