522 COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 
Considered in Europe a very pernicious grassland weed, because 
of its large, branching, perennial roots, hard, woody stems, and 
rough foliage, which cattle will not touch either as green forage or 
as hay. 
Stems one to two feet in height, rough-hairy, grooved, erect, | 
and branching. ‘Leaves also rough-hairy, the lower “and basal 
ones three to six inches in length, spatulate-oblong, sparsely 
toothed or entire, tapering to long petioles; the upper ones small, 
lance-shaped, entire, sessile or partly clasping, growing quite up 
to and subtending the heads. These are a little less than an 
inch broad, with rosy purple florets, all tubular, perfect, and fertile ; 
involucre globose, the bracts closely imbricated, their appendages 
very long and edged with stiff hairs like minute combs; the outer 
and middle rows both thus fringed, the inner one merely lacerate ; 
all black or very dark brown, or the inner row lighter in color 
than the other two. Achenes four-sided, without pappus or some- 
times with a ring of minute scales. 
Means of control the same as for the preceding species. 
BLESSED THISTLE 
Cnicus benedictus, L. 
(Centaurea benedicta, L.) 
Other English names: Holy Thistle, St. Benedict’s Thistle, Our 
Lady’s Thistle, Bitter Thistle, Spotted Thistle. 
Introduced. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: May to August. 
Seed-time: June to September. 
Range: New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to Pennsylvania, Mary- 
land, and the Southern States; also on the Pacific Coast. 
Habitat: Pastures, roadsides, waste places. 
The Blessed Thistle is a native of Asia. It is said that return- 
ing Crusaders brought the plant into Europe because of its me- 
dicinal qualities, and for the same reason it came with the early 
settlers to America. It is still the principal ingredient of “bitter 
tonics,” and its leaves and flowering tops, collected in their first 
bloom and quickly dried, are quoted in the drug market at six 
to eight cents a pound, (Fig. 359.) 
Stem fifteen to thirty inches tall, stout, erect, much branched, 
