72 MINUTES OF 



On the Use of the Thistle-Cutter. 



and upon old banks It is known almost to every one by its large beautiful leaves, 

 which are variegated with white spots and veins, as if they had been sprinkled, 

 with milk. 



It flowers in August. 



5. The welted, or curled thistle is an annual plant. This thistle frequently 

 appears on banks, and by road sides, but seldom intrudes into fields or pastures. 



This thistle flowers in June and July. 



6. The cotton thistle is a biennial plant, and is to be found plentifully in 

 tmcultivated places in many parts of England. The root is long and fibrous, and 

 sends forth several oblong, sharp-pointed, whitish green, sinuated leaves,' covered 

 with a cottony down, and set with spines on their edges. In the midst of these 

 shoots up a stalk, to the height of five or six feet, divided towards the top into 

 diverse branches, set with leaves at their joints, and having jagged, leafy borders 

 running along them, edged with spines, as has the main stalk also. Each branch 

 terminates with a scaly head of reddish purple, hermaphrodite florets, having 

 narrow tubes, and cut at their brim into five teeth. Thcy contain five hairy sta- 

 mina and one style,, and are succeeded by small oblong seeds, crowned with down. 



This thistle flowers in July. 



7. The common sow thistle. This is an annual plant, and a very troublesome 

 weed in fields and gardens. In some situations the whole plant is smooth, but in 

 others it is rough, prickly on the margins and midribs of the leaves, and also on 

 the peduncles and calyces of the flowers. The stalks are copiously stored with 

 a lactescent juice. 



8. Th£ corn soto thistle is a perennial plant, and like the other is a very 

 troublesome weed in arable land. 



This thistle flowers in July and August. 



9. The common or Jleld thistle, is a perennial plant, and has different pro- 

 vincial names in different places, as the horse thistle, the cursed thistle, &c. and 



