230 SYNGENESIA POLYGAMIA ^Q. Carduus. 



Hedges, dry, waste ground. 



An. July. 



Three f., or more : more green than Card, tenuiflonis : clothed on 

 every side with scalloped leafy wings : edges of these, as well 

 as of the leaves, fringed with numberless straddling thorns of 

 various lengths. The lengthened out flowering-branches termi- 

 nate in irregular clusters of purple, erect flowers, less than those 

 of Card, nutans. Cal.-scales slightly woolly. Partial flower- 

 stalks thorny : inner calyx-scales coloured ; not close as in 

 Cnicus palustris. 

 Discrim. from Card, nutans, by its upright calyx. Florets 



cloven half way down, the lowermost segments separated nearly 



to the base. 



C. tenuiflorus. Slender -jiowered T. Leaves running- 

 down the stem, sinuated, thorny. Flowers crowded, 

 stalkless. Calyx nearly cylindrical ; scales egg-shaped 

 at the base ; somewhat curved back at the point. 

 E. B. 412. C. 6. 55. 



Dry, sandy ground. Sm.* Dorchester. Bensington. Sh. Yarnton, 

 near the Church. Bx. 



An. Jidy. 



Root-Is. on short footstalks, somewhat lyrate, and a little cottony 

 beneath, (as are the upper ones.) Fl. long, clustered, ei'ect, 

 pale rose-coloured. Ca/.-sc«Zes with a membranous margin, and 

 strong yellow terminal thorn ; pale in their lower part, green at 

 the tip. Florets ten to fifteen, or more. Plant three or four 

 feet high. 



* * Leaves stalkless. 



C. maridnus. Milk T. Our Lady's Thistle. Leaves 

 wavy, thorny, clasping the stem ; root ones \Adng-cleft. 

 Calj'x-scales leafy, curved back, channelled ; thorny at 

 the margin. E. B. 976. C. 3. 54. C. Mari^. G. 

 E. 1150. 

 Waste ground, banks of ditches, * Near Abingdon. Bx. 

 An. June. 



Ls. shining, deep green, elegantly marbled along the veins with 

 white, which botanists of the dark ages report to have been 

 caused by the milk of the Virgin Mary falling upon a plant of 

 this species. Fl. large, purple, solitary, at the end of each 

 branch. Cal.-scnles each terminating in a long, bent back, 

 strong thorn, fringed at its base with smaller spines. Four or 

 five feet high. Cal. stem naked. 



When young, eaten as salad. The young stalks peeled and 

 soaked in water, excellent. Scales of the cup as good as Arti- 

 chokes. Root good to eat, early in the spring. TVitli. An emul- 

 sion may be formed from the oily seeds. 



