272 C0MP0SiT,E. [Carduus. 



W. Med. — Plentiful on sloping copse-land at the upper part of the ralley at 

 Apes down. Fields under Buccombe down, on the £. side, nearly above Idle- 

 combe, in some plenty. 



The handsomest perhaps of all the British thistles. Root biennial. Stem slout, 

 wi^h branched, leafy, solid, angular, deeply furi'owed, very woolly, about 3 feet 

 high. Leaves alternate, very large, spreading, the lowermost often 2 feet long, 

 dark'gfeen, sessile and semiamplexicaul, deeply pinnatifid, ihe segments remote, 

 in pairs, the lowermost in eacli pair and the larger of the two pointing upwards, 

 the other and smaller directed downwards and forwards, all elliptic-lanceolate, 

 with inflexed edges and a single, strong, white midrib, very cottony beneath, and 

 armed with a few slender marginal spines, and a very stout sharp terminal one, 

 in addition lo which the smaller deflexed segments have a basal pair of strong 

 spines, productions like the rest of the central nerve or midrib of the leaf, of which 

 the terminal segment is very long and pointed. Flowers solitary or two together 

 at the end of the branches, bright purple, very handsome, guarded by the long 

 erect tips of the highest leaves, which supply the place of bracts. Involucre 

 nearly spherical, as large as a middling-sized orauge, flattened at the base, of 

 many rows of Unear twice-curved scales, that are smooth and shining in their 

 broader and lower, but covered with a dense cottony connecting web in their 

 upper and contracted part, which is purplish, reflexed, and tipped with a pale 

 spine. Receptacle thick, fleshy, a little villous, with very shallow alveoli. Florets 

 very long, slender, curved, the tube white, limb purple, its segments linear, erect, 

 with thick glandular tips. Filaments hairy in their upper part ; anthers purple, 

 awned at the base. Style long, white; stigmas simple, undivided. Acheaia 

 large, ovate, compressed, dark brown or grayish and mottled, obscurely ribbed, 

 smooth and highly polished, crowned wiih an olilique circular rim and depression, 

 surrounding a short cylindrical point. Pappus long, white, beautifully feathery, 

 planted in the groove around the above point, which is closely embraced by the 

 deep annular base of the pappus, that falls away from the ripe seed on the 

 slightest touch. 



6. C. arvensis, Curt. Creeping-rooted Thistle. Way Thistle. 

 " Leaves spinous, heads dicEcious by abortion, involucre ovate 

 nearly glabrous its scales broadly lanceolate appressed termi- 

 nating in a short spreading spine, root creeping." — E. B. t. 975. 

 Cnicus, Hoffm. : Br. Fl. p. 223. 



By roadsides, in rough waste places, fields, pastures and neglected gardens, far 

 too abundantly ; an execrable pest in damp cornfields and cultivated ground. Fl. 

 July. n. 



7. C. palitstris, L. Marsh Thistle. " Leaves decurrent sca- 

 brous pinnatifid spinous, involucres ovate clustered, their scales 

 ovate-lanceolate mucronate appressed." — E. B. t. 974. Cnicus, 

 Willd. : Br. Fl. p. 221. 



p. Flowers white. 



In moist meadows, pastures, wootis and thickets, on ditch-banks, and in other 

 damp or wet situations ; plentifully. Fl. July. $ . 



/3. Plentiful along the descent from Groves's hotel to Alum bay. 



8. C. Forsteri, Ed. Cat. Branching Bog Thistle. " Leaves 

 slightly decurrent pinnatifid spinous downy beneath, stem pani- 

 cled hollow, involucre ovate rather cotony, outer scales spinous."* 

 E. Fl. iii. p. 390. 



* [Br. Fl. 4lh cd. sb. nom. Cnicus F.— ^rfis.] 



