COMPOSITE FAMILY 



YELLOW THISTLE 



Cdrduus spinosissimus 



A biennial or perennial Thistle, of stout robust aspect, 

 very leafy and spiny, sometimes branched at the sum- 

 mit and bearing a broad head, yellow in color. In moist, 

 sometimes in dry sandy soil, especially along the New 

 England coast. Maine to Pennsylvania and southward. 

 June-August. 



Root. — Large, thick, solid. 



Stem. — Leafy, stout, two to three feet high, somewhat 

 woolly when young, but becoming smooth. 



Leaves. — Lanceolate or oblong in outline, sessile and 

 clasping, or the basal ones short-petioled and some- 

 what spatulate, cut into triangular, or broad, spiny- 

 margined, prickle-tipped lobes which may themselves 

 be toothed or entire. Autumn tufts of leaves large and 

 spreading. 



Flower-heads. — Discoid-composite, that is, entirely desti- 

 tute of rays; an inch and a half to three inches across. 

 Florets all perfect and fertile, usually yellow. Involucre 

 of spine-tipped bracts, imbricated in many series, and 

 reinforced by the upper spiny leaves which are lanceolate. 

 Corolla tube is slender, yellowish, the border deeply 

 five-cleft. The five anthers unite into a tube. Style 

 long, slender, two-lobed, giving much of the yellow color 

 to the flower. Pappus cream, long, silky, abundant. 



Pollinated by bees and butterflies. Nectar-bearing. 

 Stamens mature before stigmas. 



The Yellow Thistle is typical of a Thistle group 

 of which the Fragrant or Pasture Thistle of New Eng- 

 land and the Middle States is a well-known example. 

 Its personal characteristics are its color, which is a 

 marked variation from the typical purple of our 

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