250 | THE COMPOSITE FAMILY. 
Leaves ciliate, not prickly, very white underneath , 9. C, heterophyllus, 
Leaves prickly, green, or with a loose white cotton 
underneath, 
Leaves deeply pinnatifid and lobed. Flower-heads 
usually 2 to 4 hs Bas ys tuberosus. 
Leaves toothed, sinuate, or ‘shortly lobed, Flower- 
heads usually solitar yor2only , : : _ 11. ¢. pr atensis. 
Very anomalous specimens occur occasionally, especially among the 
Cnacuses, which are generally believed to be natural hybrids, [These 
are most frequent between C. palustris with hetcrophyllus and pratensis, 
and between acaulis with pratensis and arvensis. ] 
1. C. Marianus, Linn, (fig. 558). Milk 7.—An annual or biennial, 
2 to 3 feet high, not much branched, and glabrous or with but very 
little cottony wool. Leaves smooth and shining above, and variegated 
by white veins; the lower ones deeply pinnatifid with broad very 
prickly lobes; the upper ones clasping the stem by prickly auricles but 
scarcely decurrent. Flower-heads large, drooping, solitary at the ends 
of the branches, with purple florets. Bracts of the involucre very broad 
at the base, with a stiff, spreading, leafy appendage, ending in a long 
prickle, and bordered with prickles at the base. Hairs of the pappus 
simple. Silybum Marianum, Geertn. 
In waste places,in southern Europe to the Caucasus ; not indigenous 
in central Europe, although it occurs here and there as a weed of 
cultivation. Rare and only introduced into Britain. Fl. summer. 
2. ©. nutans, Linn. (fig. 559). Musk 7.—A stout species, 2 to 3 
feet high, usually slightly covered with loose cottony hairs. Leaves 
deeply pinnatifid, very prickly, their edges decurrent along the stem, 
forming narrow very prickly wings. Flower-heads large and drooping, 
as in C. Marianus, but often 3 or 4 in a loose corymb. Involucral 
bracts numerous, with a stiff, narrow-lanceolate appendage, ending in 
a spreading or reflexed prickle, but without lateral prickles. Hairs of 
the pappus simple. 
In waste places, common in the greater part of Europe and temperate > 
Asia, but not spreading to the extreme north. Pretty frequent in 
southern England, especially on limestone soils, less so in the north, 
and rare in Scotland. Occurs also in Ireland. Fl. summer. 
3. ©. acanthoides, Linn. (fig. 560). Welted 7.—Much resembles 
C. nutans, but is usually taller and rather more branched ; the leaves 
narrower and more prickly; and the stem more thickly covered with 
prickly appendages, decurrent from the base of the leaves. Flower- 
heads not so large, though yet globular and slightly drooping; the 
involucral bracts very numerous and narrow, ending in a linear, 
spreading or recurved prickle, the innermost often of a thinner texture, 
slightly coloured and scarcely prickly. Hairs of the pappus simple. 
C. crispus, Linn. 
A very common Continental Thistle, extending eastward entirely 
across Asia, and northward to the Arctic Circle, although in Britain, 
like many others, it becomes scarce in Scotland. Fl. summer. Three 
forms are often distinguished as species, C. acanthoides, Linn., with 
few flower-heads, on long peduncles, and the leaves often nearly — 
elabrous; C. crispus, Linn., with the heads clustered several together on — 
short stalks, and the leaves usually rather broader and more cottony ~ 
underneath ; and C. polyanthemus, Koch., with crowded ovoid heads > 
