COMPOSITAE 



COMPOSITE FAMILY 



PASTURE THISTLE 



Cirsitim pumilum (Nutt.) Spreng. 



This native biennial is one of the most handsome as well as the 

 most fragrant of our common Thistles. It is to be found in fields 

 from Maine and Minnesota, south to Pennsylvania, Delaware 

 and Iowa, blooming from 



^^ 



July to September. 



The stem is stout, simple 

 or somewhat branched and 

 quite leafy. It grows 1-3 

 feet high from a thick, 

 solid branching root. The 

 leaves, green above and 

 below, are 3-7 inches long, 

 and the lower are petioled. 



The large heads of pur- 

 ple, lilac or whitish flowers 

 are 2-3 inches broad and 

 about 2 inches high. The 

 pappus is composed of num- 

 erous silky white bristles. 

 Country boys like to pull 

 the florets from the re- 

 ceptacle and chew the 

 nectaries. 



The Common or Bull 

 Thistle, Cirsium lanceolatum 

 (L.) Hill, is another immigrant from Europe common in pastures and 

 along roadsides. It is biennial and the stout branched stem grows 

 3-5 feet high and is leafy to the top. The leaves are dark green, 

 lanceolate and deeply lobed. They are 3-6 inches long, the lowest at 

 times even larger, and their bases extend down on the stem. The 

 lobes are tipped with stout prickles and the margins and bases are 

 bristly. The heads, 2 inches high and equally broad, are mostly 

 solitary at the ends of branches. The bracts of the involucre are 

 covered with cottony hairs and tipped with slender prickles. The 

 flowers are dark purple. 



Ha, prickle-armed knight, 



How oft the world hath cursed 

 thee, 

 Thou pestilence of Earth, 



The beldame who hath nursed 

 thee ! 



Thou like a maiden art 



Who best can find protection 



Employed at needlework 

 From idleness' infection. 

 The Thistle — Miles M. Dawson 



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