COMPOSITE FAMILY. 187 



C. Virginiiinum, Virginia T. Chiefly S. & W. on plains and barrens, 

 with rather simple stems 1° - 3° high, ending in a long naked peduncle; leaves 

 lanceolate and slightly or not at all pinnatifid ; head small. 2/ 



C. discolor, Two-coloked T. Low grounds, 3° - 6° high, branching 

 and leafy, with rather small heads, and deeply pinnatifid leaves green above 

 white beneath, their lobes narrow and prickly pointed. © 



3. SILYBUM, MILK THISTLE. (An ancient Greek name.) 



S. Mari&num, the only species, cult in some gardens and rarely running 

 wild, from the Old World, well marked by its white-blotched or veined smooth 

 leaves with clasping base and merely sinuate prickly margins; flowers purple, 

 in late summer. (I) (D 



4. ONOPORDOIf, COTTON or SCOTCH THISTLE. (The ancient 

 Greek name.) 



O. Ac&Uthium. Nat. from Eu. in waste places : tall, white-cottony, with 

 weak prickles on the sinuate-pinnatifid leaves and the broad leaf-like wings of 

 the stem and branches ; flowers purple, late summer. @ 



6. LAPPA, BURDOCK. (Name from a Greek word meaning to lay hold 

 of, from the burs or hook-awned heads. ) 



Ii. ofiQ.cill^is, var. majos, the Common B., with large leaves loosely 

 cottony beneath, or somewhat naked, the lower heart-shaped, upper ovate, is 

 common in manured soil and barnyards. Var. minok is smaller and smoother, 

 with leaves tapering at the base, often cut-toothed or cleft. El. mostly purple, 

 all summer and autumn. ® ® 



6. CARTHAMUS, SAFFLOWER, FALSE SAFFRON. (Arabic 

 name of the plant, from the properties of the orange-colored flowers, which 

 are used in dying or coloring yellow, as a substitute for true Saffron.) 



C. tinctbrius, the only common species, cult, in country gardens, from the 

 Orient ; smooth, 6' - 12' high, with ovate-oblong leaves and large head, in 

 summer. ® 



7. CNICUS, BLESSED THISTLE. (Greek name of a kind of Thistle.) 

 C. benedlctus, the only species, scarce In waste places S., from Eu. ; has 



much branched loosely woolfy stems, leafy up to the rather small heads of yek 

 lowish flowers, and pale pinnatifid leaves with slightly prickly edges. 



8. CENTAUB.EA, CENTAUREA or STAE-THISTLE. (Ancient 

 name, after Chiron the Centaur.) Fl. summer. 



§ 1. Flowers all alike in the head, the marginal ones not enlarged and ray-like: 

 pappus of very short bristles : scales of head with darkfringed appendage. 



C. nigra. Black C. or Knapweed. A coarse weed, in fields and wasta 

 sJaces E., nat. from Eu. ; stem 2° high; leaves roughish, lance-oblong, the 

 lower with some coarse teeth ; flowers purple, y. 



§ 2. Marginal flowers more or less enlarged, forming a kind of false ray, and 

 sterile : pappus of bristles : scales of head with fringed appendage. 



C. Ciner&ria, or CANOiDfssiMA, a low species, cult, from S. Eu. with 

 very white-woolly twice pinnatifid leaves, and purple flowers, the outermost 

 little enlarged : not hardy N. IJ. 



C. Americ&na. Cult, from Arkansas and Texas : smooth, with stout 

 stem l°-2° high, oblong or lance-oblong leaves, the upper entire, veiy large 

 head of showy pale purple flowers, the outer ones much enlarged, and the scales 

 with large scarious-fringed appendage. ® 



C. Cyauus, Blcebottlb or Coknflower. In gardens, from Eu., sfjar- 

 ingly running wild ; loosely cottony, with stem-leaves linear and mostly entii-e, 



