354 XXXIX. qoMPQSiTAE. [Cynara. 



erect, solitary or fascicled, lin.-2in. in diameter, shaggy ; involucral bracts numerous, 

 ciliated, subulate; spine stout, recurved. Achenes shining, striped. 



Abundantly naturalised throughout the colony. Spear thistle. Plumed thistle. Jan. to 

 March. Europe. 



* C. eriophorus, Both., Tent. Fl. Germ. i. 345. Biennial. A handsome 

 woolly much-branched plant, 3ft. -4ft. high. Stem wingless. Leaves lft.-2ft. long, 

 half-clasping, deeply pinnatifid, white and cottony beneath, bristly above ; lobes few, 

 distant, bifid, the entire lanceolate segments alternately pointing upwards and 

 downwards, each terminated by a strong spine. Heads 2in.-3in. in diameter, 

 globose ; involucres clothed with a dense white web ; bracts lanceolate, with a long 

 spinous reflexed point. Achenes shining. 



NORTH Island : naturalised on limestone in the Upper Wairarapa. Jan., ¥ph. 



* C. arvensis, Hoffm., Deutschl. Fl. ed. II. 130. Erect, dioecious. Ehizome 

 extensively creeping. Stem 3ft.-5ft. high, angled and grooved, more or less cottony. 

 Leaves shortly petioled, upper subsessile, oblong -lanceolate, slightly decurrent, 

 waved, sinuate-lobed or pinnatifid, spinous. Heads many, in terminal panicles or 

 corymbs, fin.-lin. in diameter ; male subglobose, female ovoid. Involucres glabrate ; 

 bracts ciliate, broadly lanceolate, appressed ; tips rigid, spinous. Achenes smooth, 

 shining. 



Naturalised in numerous localities from Auckland to Southland. Creeping thistle. Cali- 

 fornian thistle. Canadian thistle. Feb. to April. Europe. 



A dangerous pest. 



' CYNARA, Vaill. 



Involucre large, globose ; bracts ovate, in many series, imbricate, coriaceous ; 

 apex produced into a spine. Eeceptacle fiat, fleshy, setose. Florets all tubular ; 

 limb 5-lobed ; lobes narrow ; filaments papillose. Style-arms concrete. Achenes 

 obovate, compressed or tetragonous. Pappus-hairs plumose, rigid. Perennial herbs, 

 with simple or branching stems, spinous pinnatifid or pinnatipartite leaves, and large 

 homogamous terminal solitary heads. Corollas violet or purple. 



* C. Carduneulus, L., Sp. PI. 827. A coarse herb with branched leafy stems, 

 2ft.-4ft. high, furrowed. Eadical leaves lft.-2ft. long, bipinnatifid; segments deeply 

 lobed ; lobes lanceolate, acute, downy above, white with rather loose tomentum 

 beneath ; midrib and principal veins armed with slender rigid trifid spines below, 

 rarely spineless. Heads globose, 3in.-5in. in diameter; bracts numerous, large, 

 coriaceous, rigid, ovate, acuminate, terminating in a rigid spine ; inner bracts linear- 

 oblong, with an appendage at the apex. Eeceptacle flat, fleshy, with many long rigid 

 bristles. Florets very numerous. Achene large, obovate, slightly compressed, gla- 

 brous. 



NORTH Island : naturalised. Mangonui, Cheeseman. The Blufi, Napier, T. K. Southern 

 Europe. 



* SILYBUM, Vaill. 



Heads large ; involucres globose ; bracts foliaceous, appressed, imbricating in 

 many series, the outer broad, coriaceous, with a stout terminal subulate recurved 

 spine and several smaller spines at the base. Eeceptacle flat, densely setose. 

 Florets all hermaphrodite, filiform, with limb deeply 5-lobed. Filaments glabrous. 

 Anthers sagittate. Achenes oblong, transversely wrinkled, black with grey streaks, 

 glabrous. Pappus-hairs silky, connate at the base. An erect biennial, with large 

 sinuate-dentate waved spinous leaves marked with milk-white veins. 



