232 COMPOSITE, (composite family.) 



2. A. nildicanlis, BlI. Hairy and rather glandular (l°-3° high); 

 leaves thickish, 3 - 5-nerved, ovate or oblong, all sessile, mostly entire ; those of tiie 

 naked stem small and only 1 or 2 pairs ; heads several, corymbed, showy. — ■ 

 Damp pine barrens, Virginia and southward. April, May. 



65. CEWTAUREA, L. Stak-Thibtle. 



Heads many-flowered ; the flowers all tubular, the marginal mostly falsely 

 radiate and larger, sterile. Receptacle bristly. Involucre imbricated, the scales 

 margined or appendaged. Achenia compressed. Pappus wanting, or of a few 

 bristles. — Herbs with alternate leaves and single heads. (Named from the 

 Centaur, Chiron.) 



1. C Ctanus, L. (Bluebottle.) Scales of the globular involucre 

 fringe-margined ; false rays large, pappus very short ; leaves linear, entire, or 

 toothed at the base. ® — Eoad-sides, escaped from gardens. July. — Flowers 

 blue, vaiying to purplish or white. (Adv. from Eu.) 



2. C. nIgka, L. (Knapweed.) Scales of the globular involucre appen- 

 daged, and with a stiff black fringe ; rat/s wanting ; pappus very short ; leaves 

 lanceolate, or the lower lyrate-angled, rougli. IJ. — Waste places, B. New Eng- 

 land. Aug. — Flowers purple. (Adv. from Eu.) 



3. C. CALcfTBAPA, L. (Stak Thistle.) Stem diffusely much branched ; 

 leaves pinnatdy hbed or spinulose-toothed ; heads sessile, the middle scales of the 

 ovoid involucre spiny ; pappus none ; flowers purple. ® — Norfolk, Virginia. 

 (Adv. from Eu.) 



C. AwERiciNA, Nutt., a showy species of the Southwestern States, — the 

 only one which belongs to this countay, — is cultivated in gardens. 



66. C NIC US, Vaill. Blessed Thistle. 



Heads many-flowered ; the ray-flowers tubular and sterile, shorter than the 

 rest, which are all tubular and perfect. Scales of the ovoid involucre coriaceous, 

 appressed, extended into a long and rigid pinnately spinose appendage. Re- 

 ceptacle clothed with capillary bristles. Achenia terete, short, sti-ongly striate, 

 crowned with 10 short and horny teeth, and bearing a pappus of 10 elongated 

 rigid bristles, and 10 short bristles alternate with the last in an inner row. — Au 

 annual smoothish herb, with clasping scarcely pinnatifid-cut loaves and large 

 bractod heads. Flowers yellow. (Name from Kvi^io, to prick.) 



I. C. EENEDfCTUS, L. — Road-sides ; Scarcely naturalized. (Adv. from Eu.) 



67. CIRSIUIH, Toum. Common or Plumed Thistle. 



Heads many-flowered ; the flowers all tubular, perfect and similar, or rarely 

 imperfectly dioecious. Scales of the ovoid or spherical involucre imbricated in 

 many rows, tipped with « point or prickle. Receptacle thickly clothed with 

 soft bristles or hairs. Achenia oblong, flattish, not ribbed. Pappus of numer- 

 ous bristles united into a ring at the base, plumose to the middle, deciduous. — 



