COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 513 
sessile or partly clasping, 
softly hairy, green on both 
sides, pinnatifid, the lobes 
short, triangular, very 
prickly-toothed. Heads 
purple, pale lilac, or some- 
times nearly white, very 
large, often three inches 
broad, very sweet-scented ; 
bumblebees are nearly al- 
ways probing them for 
nectar, and in the writer’s 
childhood it was a custom 
of country children to strip 
away the bracts, pull the 
florets from the receptacle, 
and eat the sugary nectaries 
like taffy; the heads are 
solitary, terminal, usually 
subtended by involucrate 
clusters of small leaves, the 
outer bracts of the invo- 
lucre sometimes _ slightly 
glutinous on the back, 
prickly-tipped, the inner ones unarmed and very slender. 
(Fig. 355.) ; 
Means of control the same as for the Common Thistle. 
Fie. 355.— Pasture or Fragrant Thistle 
(Circtum pumilum). X }. 
YELLOW-SPINED THISTLE 
Circium ochrocéntum, Gray 
(Cdrduus ochrocéntrus, Greene) 
Native. Biennial. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: May to September. 
Seed-time: July to October. . 
Range: Nebraska to Nevada, Arizona, and Texas. 
Habitat: Plains and prairies. 
2. 
