Centaurea,'] xlvi. COMPOSixiE : cynarocepiial^ 



235 



of the involucre are pale brown, shining, the outer ones deeply 

 pinnatifid, the middle ortes torn, the upperniost sometimos nearly 

 entire, and having the scale itself so elongated as not to be co- 

 vered by the lower ones. In these respects the usual form differs 

 strikingly from C nigi^a; but there are occasionally specimens ap- 

 proaching it, and what is called C transalpina is quite intermediate. 

 Smith says that the achenes are " crowned with a simple row of very 

 short black bristles ; " in our foreign specimens there is no vestige 

 of a pappus. Only one specimen has been found in Sussex and 

 another in Lanarkshire : the Angusshire plant is more probably the 

 rayed state of C. nigra; the Irish one, if wild, is probably in the same 

 predicament, 



2. C. nigrescens Koch (blacli-rayed iT.) ; "involucral ap- 

 pendages erect ovate pectinated about 3 innermost rows 

 separated from the rest and exposing tlie scales, teeth ascend- 

 ing capillary at least as long as the breadth of the appendage, 

 pappus almost wanting, leaves linear-lanceolate, lower ones 

 ovate sinuate-dentate or lyrate-sinuate." — Bah> 



Meadows and pastures in the west of England. 7/.. 6 — 9. 

 Involucral appendages dark, of the outermost small, of succeeding 

 rows broader and broader. Heads usually rayed. — We do not 

 know with certainty what plant is meant; but the character agrees 

 well with C. transalpiyia Schl., except that in our specimen we can 

 detect no pappus whatever. The elongation of the inner scales of 

 the involucre is not, we fear, a constant character. 



3. C. nigra L. (black discoid K.) ; involucral appendages 

 ovate quite covering the involucre closely and deeply fringed, 

 teeth spreading capillary twice as long as the breadth of the 

 appendage, lower leaves angulato-dentate sublyrate, upper 

 ones lanceolate, pappus of sliort linear unequal scales. — a. heads 

 discoid. JE. B, t. 278. — /3. heads rayed. C. nigrescens JVilld. 



Meadows and pastures, frequent, 

 and W. of England and Wales; rare in Scotland. 



Leaves scabrous. Scales of the involucre with 



j3. not uncommon in the S. 



%. 6—9. 

 Stem 2 — 3 ft. high. 



black appendages and brown teeth; one or more of the innermost 

 rows in our var. ^. is often so long as not to be covered by the outer 

 scales, a structure we have never seen in var. a. Pappus never 

 wantuig, consisting of an outer row of very short blunt scales, and in 

 var. a. of numerous longer ones which are often deciduous ; these 

 longer ones in our var. p. seem either to be few in number, or entirely 

 Avanting (very caducous?). We have no objection to unite the 

 rayed form to the last, as we are" not aware that cultivation has ever 

 caused it to lose its ray, or the common state of C. nigra to obtain one. 



** Involucral scales lanceolate, their upper half with a scarious margin, 



4. C. Scabiosa L. (greater K.) ; scales of the involucre ap- 

 pressed with a black pectinate margin, leaves roughish pinna- 

 tifid, segments lanceolate acute, pappus pilose about the length 

 of the achene. JE. B. t. 56. ^ ^^ ^ 



