CARDUUS PoLvACANTHOS. PRICKLIEST THISTLE. 
CARDUUS. Linn. Gem PL Syncenesia PotyGamia JEQUALIS. 
—. Calyx ovatus, imbricatus, fquamisfpinofis. —Récegz. pilofum. 
Rau Syn. Gem 9g. MERBE FLORE EX FLOSCULIS FISTULARIBUS COMPOSITO SIVE 
CAPITATA. | PU 
CARDUUS polyacantbos foliis decurrentibus margine fpinofis, ramis patulis, calycibus fubrotundis laxis, 
{quamis fubulatis patentibus fubinermibus. . | 
CARDUUS aeanthoides folis decurrentibus finuato-pinnatifidis margine fpinofis, calycibus folitariis 
pe^ pedunculatis ereétis villofis, Lian. Sp. P/. ed. 3. 9. 1150. Fl. Suec. ed. 2. 1. 718. Facg. 
Ph 4 FY, Aufir, V. 8. 1. 249. polyacanthos, — Schreb. Libf. p. 15; 
CARDUUS crifpus. Linn. Lightfoot Scot. V.1. p. 452. 
CARDUUS ¢éri/pus folis decurrentibus finuatis margine fpinofis, calycibus globofis pedunculatis 
| folitariis erectus. Hudfon FL. Angl. ed. 2. p. 350. 
CARDUUS caule crifpo. f. B. 3. p. 50. Raiz Hifl. V. 1. p. 309: Syn. ed. 9. p. 194. 
CARDUUS fpinofiffimus anguftifolius vulgaris. Bauh. Pin. 385. ? 
CARDUUS fpinofiffimus vulgaris Polyacantha. | ZZeopraff. Lob. Ic. 21. 
POLYACANTHA Theophrafü. Tabern: Ic. 701. 
CARDUUS polyacanthos capitulis pluribus nutantibus ramofior. Mori/: Ox. IIT. 159: z. 11. 
ONOPORDON. Thiftle upon Thiflle, Ger. Herd. p. 1010. 
CARDUUS polyacanthos. The moft prickly Thiftle. Park. Th. p. 981. 7. 5. 
CARDUUS {ylveftris primus. Dod. p. 739. f. 1. Ger. emac. p. 1173. 

RADIX annua, fimplex, albida, pluribus fibris capil: 6 ROOT annual, fimple, whitifh, furnifhed with nume- 
lata. “7S Q rous fibres. 
CAULIS 2-4 pedalis et ultra, erectus, leviffime fulcatus, 9 STALK from two to four feet high or more, upright, 
hirfutus, 4-5 fariam alatus, alae laciniate, fpi- very flightly grooved, hirfute, furnifhed with 
nofiflimee, fiftulofus, faepe ufque ad bafin ramo- four or five wings, which are jagged and ex- 
fus; Rami przlongi patentes, apice flori- tremely prickly, branched, often to the bot- 
feri tom; Branches very long, fpreading, pro- 
ducing flowers at their extremities. 
LEAVES feffle, decurrent, lanceolate, cut into 
lobes, which are oppofite, {colloped, toothed, 
and a little curled, fpinous. on the edge, 
above green, beneath whitifh, and fomewhat 
woolly. 
0 
Q 
Q 
j ; 
FLORES mediocres, terminales, plerumque aggregati, 0 FLOWERS middle-fized, terminal, for the moft part 
6 
Q 
Q 
Q 
MC» 
FOLIA feffilia, decurrentia, lanceolata, incifo-lobata, 
lobis oppofitis, finuato-dentata, crifpatula, 
margine fpinofa, fupra viridia, fubtus albida, 
hifpido-tomentofa; 
purpuret, odorati, feffiles, aut breviter pedun- cluftered, purple, odoriferous, feffile or ftand: 
culat erecti aut fubnutantes. ing on fhort footftalks, upright or fomewhat 
drooping. 
CALYX common to all the florets, nearly round, loofe- 
| ly imbricated, {cales tapering to a point, 
fpreading, and fomewhat reflexed, flightly 
. . cottony, and harrmlefs. 
COROLLA compound, tubular, uniform, as long 
duplolongior; Corollude hermaphrodite, fub- again as the calyx; /orets. hermaphrodite, 
equales, reflexa, fg. i. 1. 6 nearly equal, and reflexed, jg. 1. 
SEMEN oblongum, leve, pallide fufeum; leviter ftri- 6 SEED. oblong; {mooth, of a pale brown colour, flightly 
CALYX communis fubrotundus, laxe imbricatus, fqua- 
mis fubulatis, reflexo-patulis, fubtomentofis, 
mitibus. 
COROLLA compofita, tubulofa, uniformis, calyce 
atum, utrinque obtufum; Pappus fimplex, 6 firiated, blunt at both ends; Dew; fimple, 
Jig. 2. au&t. figs 3. Q jg. 92. magn. fig. 9. - 
"The prickly armour worn by moft -ef the Cardui, renders them a truly formidable tribe; our Northern 
brethren have chofen the Thiftle as an emblem of their motto, “ Nemo me impune lacefit : there is however a 
confiderable difference in the ftrength and number of their fpines in different fpecies, in fome they are fo few, 
and thofe fo fhort, and foft, that the plant may be handled with perfeét fafety ; while in others they are fo 
fharp, and fo completely befet every part of the plant, that it cannot even be touched without the greateft 
caution: of the latter kind is the prefent fpecies, which divers of the ancient Botanifts diftinguifhed by the name 
of polyacanthos (many fpined) aword, in its flri&t fenfe applicable to various other fpecies ; but by this expreffion 
they doubtiefs meant prickly im the extreme, gua/i/pinofiffimus, conformable to which is the old Englifh name of 
Thiftle upon Thiftle. On comparing this fpecies with all our Englifh Thittles, as they grew together in my 
garden, I found that the {pines in this were actually more numerous than in any of the reft, though the pa/uffris 
was not much inferior to it im point of number; the term, therefore, as far as regards our Englifh Thiltles, 
is founded in propriety. a ae E 
Profeffor Scureser, author of the beft treatife on Graffes the world ever faw, of the eighth edition of the 
Genera Plantar. of Linn &us, and of many other ineftimable treatifes in Botany and Natural Hiftory, in treating 
of this Thiftle, has adopted the above-mentioned name of polyacanthos; he regards it at the fame time as the 
acantboides of Linn aus, which name he relinquifhes, becaufe he confiders it as more properly belonging to 
the acanthoides of J. BAUHINE (our fenuiflorus). | 
This fpecies is very common in the environs of London, by the fides of roads, on the borders of fields, and 
under hedges, flowering from June to September: it is fometimes found with white flowers, and according 
to fituation is obferved to vary in fize from two to five or more feet, to be more or lefs hairy, and to have 
its flowers more or lefs cluftered. hes 
In its general appearance it approaches near to the palu/fris, with which ftudents are apt. to confound it, and 
from which it may be diftinguifhed in various Ways: its place of growth ferves to difcriminate it, as it affeéts 
dry, not moift fituations, in which alone the $a/v/fr;: is found; it 1s more branched, and the extreme flowering 
. branches are more bowed or bent downwards, as our figure reprefents; but this charaCter is not to be depended 
on folely, they being often perfectly upright, as figured by Profeffor Jacquin : the Calyx affords the moft 
unerring mark of diltinétion between the two, the fcales in that of the palujir7s are clofely imbricated, as in the 
arvenfis, acaulis, and fome others, while in the prefent plant they are loofe, much refembling thofe of the 
Burdock, and almoft as harmlefs ; Ray, who has defcribed it moft admirably, obferves alfo, that the flowers 
are more odoriferous. | 
We laft fummer obferved the larva of the Papilio Cardui, feeding abundantly on its foliage. In an agricultural 
point of view, it is fcarcely worth noticing, being an annual, and feldom abounding either in fields or gardens. 
s, 
