<!OMPOSIT^. (composite FAMILY.) 233 



Herbs, with sessile alternate leaves, often piunatifld, and prickly. Heads large, 

 terminal. Flowers reddish-purple or cream-color. (Name from Kipaos, a swelled 

 vein, for which the Thistle was a reputed remedy.) 



* Scales of the involucre all tipped with spreading prickles. 



1. C. lanceolAtum, Scop. (Common Thistle.) Leaves decuirent on 

 the stem, forming prickly lobed wings, pinnatifid, rough and bristly above, 

 woolly with decidous webby hau-s beneath, prickly; flowers purple. © — Pas- 

 tures and road-sides, everywhere, at the North. (Nat. from En.) 



* * Scales of the involucre oppressed; the inner ones not pricUy : JUaments hairy. 



+- Ticaves white-woolly beneath, and sometimes also above : outer scales of the involucre 



successively shorter, and tipped with short prickles. 



2. C. Pitcheri, Torr. & Gr. White-woolly throughout, low; stem stout, 

 very leafy ; leaves all pinnatdy parted into rigid narrowly linear and elongated divis- 

 ions, with revolute margins ; flowers cream-color. 1|. — Sandy shores of Lakes 

 Michigan, Huron, and Superior. 



3. C. undlllatnin, Spreng. White-wooUy throughout, low and stout, 

 leafy; leaves lanceolate-ci>!ong, partly claspintj, undvUcOe-pinnatifid, with prickly 

 lobes; flowers reddish-purple. @ — Is' 's of L. Huron and Michigan; 

 thence westward. July. 



4. C. discolor, Spreng. Stem grooved, hairy, branched, leafy ; leaves 

 all deeply pinnatifid, sparingly hairy and green above, whitened with close wool be- 

 neath ; tlie diverging lobes 2 - S-defi, linear-lanceolate, prickly-pointed ; flowers pale 

 purple. (D — Meadows and copses; not uncommon. Aug. — Plant 3° -6° 

 high : heads 1' or more in width. 



5. C. altissimiiin, Spreng. Stem downy, branching, feo^ to Me AoKfe; 

 leaves roughish-hairy above, whitened with close wool beneath, obtong-lanceolate, 

 sinuate-toothed, uruiulate-pinnatifid, or undivided, the lobes or teeth prickly, those 

 from the base pinnatifid; lobes short, :Vong or triangular; flowers chiefly purpj' 

 H.? — Fields and copses, Penn. to Ohio, Illinois, and southward. Aug. 

 Plant 3° - 10° high : leaves variable : the heads much as in the last. 



6. C. Tirgfini^nmn, Michx. Stem woolly, slender, simple or sparingly 

 branched, the branches or long peduncles naked: leaves lanceolate, green abov 

 whitened with close wool beneath, ciliate with prickly bristles, entire or sparingly 

 sinuate-lobed, sometimes the lower deeply sinuate-pinnatifid ; outer scales of the 

 involucre scarcely prickly ; flowers purple. — Woods and plains, Virginia, Ohio, 

 and southward. July. — Plant 1°- 3° high; the heads seldom more than half 

 as large as in the last. 



Var. filipendiiluin. Stem stouter, more leafy, corymbosely branched 

 above ; the heads on shorter peduncles ; leaves pinnatifid ; roots tuberous, en- 

 larged below. (C. filipendulum, Engdm.) — Blinois and southwestward. 

 «- •>- Leaves green both sides, or only with loose webby hairs underneath : scales of the 

 involucre scarcely prickly-poitUed. 

 7. C. mtltiCUlll, Michx. (Swamp Thistle.) StemtaU {S°-S° high), 

 angled, smoothish, panicled at the summit, the branches sparingly leafy and 

 bearine single or few rather large naked heads; faaues somewhat hairy above, 

 20* 



