418 COMPOSIT-K. Cnuus. 



§ 1. Scales of the uiooiucre oppressed and closely imbricated {except in the last 

 s/iecies) ; the outer scales successive.li/ shorter, not appenduijed nor mart/itied, 

 ti/tped with a mostlt/ sprtadimj prickit or point ; (he innermost rarely ivith a 

 small scarious tip. 



* Low sjircifit, with simple stein and (jrtcu or (jrccnish le.aves, <tt least ivhen old, id- 

 thouyh more or less cobwebby when youny : heads proportionally larye : aiither-tips 

 sharp-pointed. 



1. C. Drummondii, var. acaulescens, (.hay, 1. c. The larger fonns of tlit; 

 species (wliich occur in the IJocky JMoiiuLaiiis, ami I'roiu Oregon to Saskatchowaii aiul 

 the Arctic region) have a stem iVoni a span to a foot or even 3 or 4 feet high, ami 

 large heads: the variety, which reaches California, has the more or less smaller heads 

 sessile or almost so in the centre of the tuft of radical leaves ; these lightly woolly 

 when young, at least beneath, lanceolate, not deeply pinnatihd, with short and 

 broad-margined petiole : scales of the involucre thin and proportionally large ; the 

 outer ovate-lanceolate passing into lanceolate, tapering into a weak and short or 

 slender prickle : corollas mostly reddish purple ; the lobtis shorter than the throat. 

 — Cirsium acaule, var. Americanuvi, (Jray in Proc. Acad. Philad. 1863. 



Open ground along tlic Sierra Nevada, chielly on the eastcin side. Corollas an inch or move in 

 lunglli. 'flio heads wliun .several in a close cluster aio smaller and nanower, when .single ocea- 

 .sioinilly '2 inches long. 



± C. quercotoruiu, (Imy. J.ightly woolly when young, iiud bomewhat hairy : 

 stem a foot or less high, occasionally branching, leafy: leaves rather rigid, pinnately 

 or sometimes even almost bii)innately parted, more prickly : heads large and broad 

 (about two inches higli) : scales of the involucre very numerous, closely apjjressed, 

 all but the imier ones iirm-coriaceous, from oblong-ovate to lanceolate, and rather 

 abruptly tipped with a short rigid cusj) or jirickle : corollas apparently puiple, fo\ir 

 of the lobes much higher united, the other longer than the throat. — Proc. Am. 

 Acad. X. 40. 



Hills at Oakland and ilsewiiere near San Knuuasco, Jlolandiu; Kclhxjii. In Holamlci's si.eeimen.s 

 tlie heads are naked-iiedmieled ; the outer .scales very rigid, with thinnish and erose-ciliolalo 

 margins, the outermost very short and almost ovate, all merely mucronate or (fusi)idate-tini)ed. 

 Dr. Kellof,'f,''s speeimeiis, pi'oliably from le.ss exposed ground, have less rigid loliaf'e, and iuvohicie- 

 seales more like those ot U. Jhumiiwndii, less abruptly tipped with a short rigid prickle. 



* * Taller species, u'ith jiermanently and densely white-woolly leaves, at least under- 



neath, sometimes becominy yreeii and naled above. 



+- Involucre ylobular, of Jirm or thick-coriaceous closely appresstd scales, tippied wUh 



an abrujit spreadiny prickle : jlowers purple, sometimes cream-color or white. 



3. C. Breweri, Cray, 1. c. Tall (4 to 10 feet high), branching, white- woolly : 

 leaves elongated and ])innati{id : heads numerous and panicled, rather small (an 

 inch or kss long) : involucre at first cobwebby ; the outer scales short and bioadish, 

 the back marked with a greenish or ])urplish thickenetl and somewhat glutinous or 

 glanduhir spot at the blunt tip, which bears a weak prickle : lobes of the corolla 

 shorter than the throat : anther-tips almost obtuse. 



In a canon near San .Tuan, Monterey Co. (Brewer) : and in swamps and moist grounds of 

 Strawberry Valley near Mt. Shasta (Brewer), also in Mendocino and liumboklt Counties (Bulan- 

 der, KelUxjii and Jfur/oril) : near Car.son City, Nevada, .Indcrson. The tall growth and tlio 

 deltoid almost blunt tip to the anther-appendages mark this si)ecies. 



4. C. undulatus, Gray, 1. c. Iiather low (a foot or two liigh), white-woolly : 

 leaves rarely bticoming naked above : heads solitary or few (from 1 to 2 inches 

 long) : involucre nearly as in the last or .sooner naked, with or without the viscid 

 or greeiush spot or cievated line at the tip : lobes of the 'corolla as long as the 

 throat: anther-ti])s very sharp-pointed. — Cirsium undulatum (Spreng.), C. Douy- 

 lasii (DC), an<l C. hreuifolium, Null. 



