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73 



THISTLES. 

 NOTES ON CABDUUS AEVENSIS, 



(Cnicus arvensis of some Autliors). 



The common Creei)mg Thistle, with a short reference to 

 Cnicus Lanceolatus, the Spear or Plume Thistle : 



[Read 12tJi August, 1878.] 



Carduus arvensis is perhaps the commonest of European thistles. 

 It is well known under the names of "creeping," "wayside," 

 "corn," and "vine," and latterly, in Tasmania, it has received 

 the additional one of " Calif ornian. " Why this latter name should 

 have been so long exclusively used for so common and well-known 

 a plant, it is difficult to conceive, although it no doubt originated 

 from the fact that some 20 or 25 years ago a shipment of barley, 

 purporting to be the Oregon variety, was received from California, 

 to which is attributed the introduction, or, at all events, the serious 

 augmentation of this v»'eed. It is certain that wherever this barley 

 was used as seed, a plentiful crop of the thistle soon made its appear- 

 ance, and has ever since held possession of the ground, and thus 

 the term of Calif ornian thistle originated. But the plant being so 

 common in Europe in all grain crops, especially oats, and l^eing one 

 also that has followed cultivation to most parts of the world, it is 

 not improbable that it may have existed in the colony at a very early 

 date, there is however no evidence of its having been noticed before 

 the time specified. 



Although the late Mr. Wm. Archer, in some notes on this plant 

 published in the Transactions of the Society for the year 1870, 

 identified it with the common European creeping thistle, yet I 

 believe the impression to be widespread that it is of comparatively 

 recent origin, and that it is indigenous to California. So firmly is 

 this opinion held that, when some years ago I received specimens of 

 the plant to name, from a late warden of Bellerive (who has since 

 passed away), and which were duly returned with the botanical and 

 common names attached, I was told that I had made a great mistake, 

 and that the plant could not be a native of England, but had come 

 from California. 



The plant is not indigenous to America, but has become common 

 in Canada, California, and other parts, and is invariably spoken of 

 as having been introduced from Europe. The term Californian 

 Thistle is therefore not an appropriate one and should not be used, 

 or, if used at all, should be kept in subjection to those by which the 

 plant is known so well, not only in the present day, but hundreds 

 of years ago. In Parkinson's "Theater of Plants," puljlished nearly 

 250 years ago, it is figured as the " creeping, way, or vine thistle," 

 and he alludes to it in the following terms : — " The rootes of this 

 thistle are very sm.all and whitish, runnhig both deepe and farre 

 about under ground like unto quicke grasse, but have no knotted 

 joynts therein like it, but shooteth up heades of leaves from the 

 branches of the roote, so that it will be as ill or worse than quicke 

 to weede out if it be once got into the ground." 



The retention of the name so far has had a tendency to mislead, 

 as it has prevented persons interested in the matter from a ready 



