ELUE AND PURPLE WILD FLOWERS 
midrib is strong, and the texture is firm. The great, 
fluffy flower head is more rounding and spreading than 
the Common Thistle. The purple colouring is softer 
and lighter in tone, and the large green cup is thickly 
covered with short prickers. Several small leaflets 
are set close to the base of the cup. One, two, or three 
flowers are set on the end of the stalk and branches, 
and as the seed ripens, the head becomes a lovely bal] 
of silky fluff. This Thistle is found in dry pastures 
and fields, from Maine to Pennsylvania, and Delaware, 
from July to September. 
CANADA THISTLE. CREEPING, CURSED, 
WAY, CORN, OR HARD THISTLE 
Cirsium drvense. Thistle Family. 
The Canada Thistle has been severely condemned 
by farmers in this country because of its rapid spread 
and the extreme difficulty with which its creeping roots 
are eradicated from the soil. It grows in extensive 
colonies, and quickly monopolizes our fertile meadows 
and pasture lauds. The slender, leafy stalk is grooved 
and branching at the top, and grows from one to three 
feet high, from a perennial creeping rootstalk. The 
long, lance-shaped leaf is deeply cut into very prickly 
lobed or coarsely toothed segments, which bristle with 
many prickers, as they become curled or ruffled. 
The colour is grayish green, and the midrib is whitish. 
They slightly clasp the stalk, and the lower ones are 
stemmed. The numerous small, purple or whitish 
flower heads are loosely clustered on the tips of the 
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