IO36 FLORA. 



IOS. CNICUS L. 



An annual herb, with alternate pinnatifid or sinuate-dentate leaves, the lobes 

 or teeth spiny, and large sessile heads of yellow tubular flowers, solitary at the 

 ends of the branches, subtended by the upper leaves. Bracts of the involucre im- 

 bricated in several series, the outer ovate, the inner lanceolate, tipped by long pin- 

 nately branched spines. Receptacle fiat, bristly. Achenes terete, striate, laterally 

 attached, the horny margin 10- toothed at the summit; pappus of 2 series of awns, 

 the inner fimbriate, the outer longer, naked; anther-appendages elongated, united 

 to their tips. [Latin name of Safflower, early applied to thistles.] A monotypic 

 genus of the Old World. 



1. Cnicus benedictus L. Blessed Thistle. Our Lady's Thistle. (I. 

 F. f. 4081.) Hirsute or pubescent, much branched, seldom over 7 dm. high. 

 Leaves oblong-lanceolate in outline, rather thin, reticulate-veined, 7-15 cm. long, 

 the upper clasping, the basal and lower ones narrowed at the base and petioled; 

 heads about 25 mm. broad, subtended by several large lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate 

 leaves; bristles of the receptacle soft, long; outer awns of the pappus alternating 

 with the inner. In waste places, N. S. to Md., Penn. and Ala. and on the Pacific 

 Coast. Adventive from southern Europe. May-Aug. 



