470 



THE COMPOSITE FAMILY. 



XXVI. CARLINE. CARLINA. 



Low, very prickly herbs. Outer bracts of the involucre very prickly, 

 inner ones coloured or shining, long, and spreading like the rays of a 

 star. Receptacle bearing irregularly cut, chaffy scales between the 

 florets. Achenes silky-hairy, with a feathery pappus. 



A small European and Asiatic genus, easily distinguished by the in- 

 volucral bracts. 



1. Common Carline. Carlina vulgaris, Linn. (Fig. 563.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1144.) 



An erect biennial, seldom above 6 or 

 8 inches high. Leaves not decurrent, 

 toothed or pinnatifid, and very prickly ; 

 the lower ones narrow, slightly covered 

 with loose cottony wool ; the upper ones 

 broader and nearly glabrous. Flower- 

 heads hemispherical, about an inch in 

 diameter, usually 3 or 4 in a small ter- 

 minal corymb. Outer involucral bracts 

 broadly lanceolate, bordered with very 

 prickly teeth, or lobes ; inner ones linear, 

 entire, with very smooth and shining, 

 horizontally-spreading tips. 



In dry, hilly pastures and fields, 

 throughout Europe and Russian Asia, 

 Fig. 563. except the extreme north. Hather com- 



mon in England and Ireland, extending 

 into a few Scottish counties. Fl. summer and autumn. 



XXYII. CENTAUREA. CENTAUREA. 



Herbs, with entire or pinnatifid leaves, seldom prickly, and purple, 

 blue, or sometimes yellow flowers. Involucres globular or ovoid, the 

 bracts numerous, ending either in a prickle or in a fringed or toothed 

 appendage. Outer row of florets usually longer than the others, and 

 neuter. Eeceptacle bearing bristles between the florets. Achenes 

 glabrous, with a short pappus of simple hairs or scales, sometimes very 

 short, or rarely quite wanting. 



One of the most numerous genera of ThistleJieads in the Mediter- 

 ranean and Caucasian regions, with a very few American species. The 



