COMPOSITE FAMILY. 18? 



C. Virgini&num, Virginia T. Chiefly S. & W. on plains and baiTcns, 

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

 lanceolate and slightly or not at all pinnatifid ; head small. 11 



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

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

 white beneath, their lobes narrow and prickly pointed. @ 



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



S. Mari^um, the only species, cult, in some gai-dens and rarely running 

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

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

 in late summer. ® ® 



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

 Greek name.) m ., ■ ■ 



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

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

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



5. IiAPFA, burdock. (Name from a Greek word meaning to, hy hold 

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



L. offlcia^is, var. MAJOR, the Common B., with large leaves loqsely 

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

 common in manured sfAV and barnyards. Var. mInok is smaller and smoother, 

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

 all sumtner and autumn. ® ® , ; 



e. CARTHAMUS, SAFELOWER, FALSE SAFFRON. (Arabic 

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

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

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



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



summer. ® 



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

 C. benedictus, the only species, scarce in waste places S., from Eu. ; has 



much branched loosely woolly stems, leafy up to the rather small heads of yel- 

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



8. CENTAUREA, CENTAUREA or STAR-THISTLE, (Ancient 

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



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

 pappus of very short bristles : scales qf head mth dfrJc fringed appendage. 



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

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

 lower with some coarse teeth ; flowers purple, y. • 



§ 2. Marginal flowers more or less enlarged, fanning a kind of fake ray, and 

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



C. Cineraria, or CANCiofssiMA, a low species, cult, from S. Eu. i^ith 

 very white-woolly twice pirjnatifid leaves, an4 purple flowers, the outermost 

 little enlarged : not hardy N. ^ 



C. Azueric^a. Cult, from Arkansas and Texas : sniooth, with stput 

 stem 1° -2° high, obloijg or lance-oblong leaves, the upper entire, Very large 

 head of showy pale purple flowers, fhe outer ones much enlarged, and fhe pcales 

 with large scarious-fringe4 appendage. ® 



C. C^anus, Bluebottle or Cornflower. In gardens, fVom Eu., .spar- 

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



