compositjE. 317 



inner ones coloured or shining, long, and spreading like the rays of a star. 

 Eeccptacle bearing irregularly cut, chaify scales between the florets. Achenes 

 silky-hairy, with a feathery pappus. 



A small European and Asiatic genus, easily distinguished by the involu- 

 cral bracts. 



1. Common Carliue. Carlina vulgaris, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1144..) 



An erect biennial, seldom above 6 or 8 inches high. Leaves not decurrent, 

 toothed or pinnatifid, and very prickly ; the lower ones narrow, sliglitly 

 covered with loose cottony wool ; the upper ones broader and nearly glabrous. 

 Flower-heads hemispherical, about an inch in diameter, usually 3 or 4 in a 

 small terminal corymb. Outer involucral bracts broadly lanceolate, bor- 

 dered with very prickly teeth or lobes ; inner ones linear, entire, with very 

 smooth and shining, horizontally-spreading tips. 



In dry, hilly pastures and fields, throughout Europe and Russian Asia, 

 except the extreme north. Rather common in England, extending into a 

 few Scottish counties. Fl. summer and autumn^ 



XXYII. CBNTAUREA. CENTAUREA. 



Herbs, with entire or pinnatifid leaves, seldom prickly, and purple, blue, 

 or sometimes yellow flowers. Involucres globular or ovoid, the bracts nu- 

 merous, ending either in a prickle or in a fringed or toothed appendage. 

 Outer row of florets usually larger than the others, and neuter. Receptacle 

 bearing bristles between the florets. Achenes glabrous, with a short pap- 

 pus of simple hairs or scales, sometimes very short, or rarely quite wanting. 



One of the most numerous genera of Thistleheads in the Mediterranean 

 and Caucasian regions, with a very few American species. The enlarged 

 outer florets, the most prominent character of the genus, are seldom defi- 

 cient, and that chiefly in a common variety of our own black Centaurea. 

 In that case the fringed involucral bracts as readily indicate the genus. 



Involucres not prickly, or with very smaU prickly points to the 

 bracts. 

 Involucral bracts with a broad, black, or brown fringed border or 

 appendage, 

 leaves mostly entire or toothed. Appendages almost conceal- 

 ing the bracts themselves 1. Black C, 



leaves deeply pinnatifid. Involucral bracts showing their green 



centres with a black fringed border 2. Greater C. 



Involucral bracts ending in, or bordered by, minute teeth or 

 prickles. 

 Outer florets bright blue. An erect cornfield annual .... 3. Corn U. 



Florets purple. A spreading Jersey perennial 4. Jersey C. 



Involucral bracts ending in a long, stout prickle. 



Florets purple 5. Starthistle C, 



Florets yellow 6. Yellow C 



The C. montanay from central and southern Europe, and a few others, are 

 occasionally cultivated in our gardens. 



1. Black Centaurea. Centaurea nigra, Lien. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 278 ; C. iiigrescens,'Br'it.'E\. Knapweed ov' Hardheads.) 

 A perennial, with erect stems, hard and branched, 1 to 2 feet high. Leaves 

 from linear to lanceolate or oblong ; the upper ones entire or nearly so, 



2 E 2 ' 



