522 COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 



Considered in Europe a very pernicious grassland weed, because 

 of its large, branching, perennial roots, hard, woody stems, and 

 rough foliage, which cattle will not touch either as green forage or 

 as hay. 



Stems one to two feet in height, rough-hairy, grooved, erect, 

 and branching. Leaves also rough-hairy, the lower and basal 

 ones three to six inches in length, spatulate-oblong, sparsely 

 toothed or entire, tapering to long petioles ; the upper ones small, 

 lance-shaped, entire, sessile or partly clasping, growing quite up 

 to and subtending the heads. These are a little less than an 

 inch broad, with rosy purple florets, all tubular, perfect, and fertile ; 

 involucre globose, the bracts closely imbricated, their appendages 

 very long and edged with stiff hairs like minute combs ; the outer 

 and middle rows both thus fringed, the inner one merely lacerate ; 

 all black or very dark brown, or the inner row lighter in color 

 than the other two. Achenes four-sided, without pappus or some- 

 times with a ring of minute scales. 



Means of control the same as for the preceding species. 



BLESSED THISTLE 



Cnlcus benedictus, L. 

 (Centaiirea benedlcta, L.) 



Other English names: Holy Thistle, St. Benedict's Thistle, Our 

 Lady's Thistle, Bitter Thistle, Spotted Thistle. 



Introduced. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom: May to August. 



Seed-time: June to September. 



Range: New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to Pennsylvania, Mary- 

 land, and the Southern States ; also on the Pacific Coast. 



Habitat: Pastures, roadsides, waste places. 



The Blessed Thistle is a native of Asia. It is said that return- 

 ing Crusaders brought the plant into Europe because of its me- 

 dicinal qualities, and for the same reason it came with the early 

 settlers to America. It is still the principal ingredient of "bitter 

 tonics," and its leaves and flowering tops, collected in their first 

 bloom and quickly dried, are quoted in the drug market at six 

 to eight cents a pound. (Fig. 359.) 



Stem fifteen to thirty inches tall, stout, erect, much branched, 



