COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 511 
Time of bloom: July to October. 
Seed-time: August to November. 
Range: Newfoundland to Minnesota and Nebraska, southward to 
Georgia and Missouri. 
Habitat: Pastures, fence rows, roadsides, and waste places. 
In order to mature fruit these plants must remain undisturbed 
until the second year of growth; the first season produces only a 
deep taproot crowned by a large, 
tufted, spreading rosette of leaves, 
three to six or more inches long, 
lance-shaped, deeply pinnatifid, the 
lobes tipped with spines, the upper 
surface deep green and rough-hairy 
but the under side clothed with 
brownish, webby wool which disap- 
pears as the plants grow older. 
Stems two to four feet high, stout, 
branching, leafy to the heads. Leaves 
decurrent on the stem, the wings 
extending to the axil of the leaf 
below, the edges very prickly. 
Heads large, about two inches 
high and nearly as broad, mostly 
solitary at the ends of stem and Ts 
branches, the bracts of the invo- | oe 
lucre lance-shaped, long-pointed, all IG 
tipped with needle-like spines; flo- 
rets all tubular, five-lobed, deep Fic. 354. Common or Bull 
purple, fragrant. Achenes _light- ceinile (Circium lanceolatum). 
colored, oblong, slightly flattened and ed 
curved, with long, plumose, white pappus. (Fig. 354.) Gold- 
finches are very fond of these seeds and usually build their nests 
of Thistle-down, a habit which has gained for them the name of 
“Thistle-birds.” 
Means of control 
Deep spudding or hoe-cutting of first-year rosettes; flowering 
stalks should be cut below the crown, before the first flowers mature ; 
