404 COMPOSIT.^. Cnicus. 



Var. Vaseyi. Perhaps a distinct species, only arachnoid-tomentose and greenish, even 

 glabrate in age. — California, in Plumas and Sierra Co., Lemmon, Mrs. Ames. A remark- 

 ably glabrate form, with inrolucral bracts obscurely glandular, and tipped with very short 

 prickle, growing in dry soil exposed to flie sun, Tamalpais, G. R. Vase;/. Also a robust form, 

 equally glabrate and green, witli the glandular spot on the involueral bracts conspicuous 

 and narrow : in salt marshes, Suisin Bay, Greene, 



= = = Leaves in the same species from undivided to pinnately parted, and the lobes from 

 ovate to lanceolate, upper face soon glabrate and green: involueral bracts tipped with weak 

 setiforni prickles or sometimes hardly any: anther-tips subulate, veri' acute: corolla flesh- 

 colored, rarely white. 



. altlssimus, Willd. Stem branching, 3 to 10 feet high : leaves in the typical form 

 ovate-oblong or narrower, sometimes with merely spinulose-ciliate slightly toothed margins, 

 sometimes laciniate-cleft or sinuate, or lower ones deeply sinuate-pinnatifid, weakly prickly : 

 heads one and a half to two inches high : involueral bracts firm-coriaceous, abruptly tipped 

 with a spreading setiform prickle, the short outermost ovate or oblong : roots fascicled and 

 not rarely tuberous-thickened below the middle, in the manner of Dahlia. — Willd. Spec. iii. 

 1671 ; Ell. Sk. ii. 268; Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. x. 42. Carduus altissimus, L. Spec. ii. 824. 

 Clrsium altissiimcm, etc., l^ill. Elth. i. 81, t. 69. C. aJtIssimum & C. diversifolium, DC. Prodr. 

 vi. 640. — Borders of woods, and in open ground, common from New York to Wisconsin, 

 Florida, and Texas. 



Var. fllipendulus, Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. xix. 56. Smaller, 2 or 3 feet high: 

 roots tuberiferous : leaves commonly deeply pinnatifid : heads few, only inch and a half high. 

 — Oirsium filipendulum, Engelm. in Gray, Man. ed. 5, 273. C. Virginianus, var. 5'i Torr. & 

 Gray, 1. c. — Prairies and Eive-oak thickets, Texas and Colorado. (Adj. Mex.) 



!»» Var. discolor, Gk.^y, 1. c. Stem 2 to 6 feet high, freely branching : leaves nearly all 

 deeply pinnatifid into lanceolate lobes, or those of upper leaves linear : heads fully inch and 

 a half high. — C. discolor, Muhl. in Willd. Spec. iii. 1670 ; Ell. 1. c. ; Bigel. El. Bost. ed. 2, 

 292. Carduus discolor, Nutt., Darlingt., &c. Cirsium discolor, Spreng. Srst. iii. 373 ; DC. 

 1. c. ; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. — Borders of fields and thickets, Canada and Kew England to 

 Illinois and Georgia. 



C. Virginianus, Puksh. Stem slender, 2 or 3 feet high, simple or branching : leaves 

 narrow, varying as in the preceding : heads more naked-pedunculate, only an inch long : in- 

 volueral bracts small and narrow, thinner, tapering into a very weak short spreading bristle- 

 like prickle, sometimes hardly any: flowers rose-purple. — El. ii. 506; Ell. 1. c. Carduus 

 Vir(]inia.nus, L. 1. c. ; Jacq. Obs. iv. t. 99 ; Nutt. 1. c. Cirsium. Virginianiim, Michx. El. ii. 90 ; 

 DC. 1. c. ; Torr. & Gray, El. ii. 457, excl. last var. C. Texaniim, Buckley in Proc. Acad. 

 Philad. 1862, imperfect specimen, apparently of this species. — Pine woods and dry banks, 

 Virginia to Te.xas. 



++ ++ Green or with only light and thin arachnoid tomentum, this at length mostly deciduous: 

 involucre innocuous or nearly so. Atlantic species. 



= Heads only inch high, loosely somewhat paniculate: principal bracts of the involucre con- 

 spicuously viscid-glandular on the back, more or less cuspidate-tipped: stems branching, 2 to 8 

 feet high. 



C. Nuttallii, Gray, 1. u. Early glabrate : stem slender, below winged by decurrence of the 

 leaves: these when young lightly arachnoid beneath and often villous with jointed liairs 

 above, deeply pinnatifid and with narrow lobes, slender-prickly : heads rather narrow : invo- 

 lucre nearly glabrous, of very small and narrow thinnish bracts, the lower ones acicular- 

 mucronate: corollas white or pale purple. — Carduus glahur, Nutt. Gen. ii. 129 ! but if so, 

 hardly from New Jersey. Cuims glaher. Ell. Sk. ii. 270. Cirsium Nuttallii, DC. Prodr! 

 vi. 651.— Dry ground, S. Carolina to Florida, toward the coast. Nearly related to C. 

 Virrjir^ianus, 



3. Wrightii, Gray, 1. c. Robust and tall, with thin arachnoid wool tardily deciduous from 

 the ample (foot or more long) sinuate or pinnatifid we:\kly prickly leaves : heads in a naked 

 panicle, hemispherical : bracts of the involucre small ; outer ones subulate, cuspidate-tipped : 

 corollas white, or possibly fle.sh-color : larger pappus-bristles stronglv clavellate at tip. — 

 Cirsiinii Wrightii, Gray, PI. Wright, ii. 101. — Near springs, S. W. Texas and E. Arizona, 

 Wright. 



