474 THE COMPOSITE FAMILY. 



5 Star-thistle Centaur ea. Centaurea Calcitrapa, Linn. 



(Fig. 5G8.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 125.) 



A coarse, green annual, sometimes 

 slightly covered with cottony down, sel- 

 dom rising to a foot in height, but with 

 very spreading or prostrate branches. 

 Leaves pinnatifid, with a few long linear 

 or lanceolate lobes. Flower-heads ses- 

 sile among the upper leaves or in the 

 forks of the branches, not large in them- 

 selves, but the involucral bracts end in 

 stiff spreading spines, \ to 1 inch long, 

 with 1 or 2 smaller prickles at their 

 base. Florets purple. Achenes without 

 any pappus. 



In waste places, and on roadsides, in 

 central and especially southern Europe 

 to the Caucasus, and most abundant 

 near the sea. Found occasionally in 

 some of the southern counties of Eng- 

 land, but scarcely further northward. 

 Fl. summer and autumn. 



Fig. 568. 



6. Yellow Centaurea. 



Centaurea solstitialis, Linn. (Fig. 569.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 243.) 



A stiff, erect annual, 1 to 2 feet high, 

 with few branches, and covered with a 

 white cottony w 7 ool. Radical leaves pin- 

 natifid, upper ones small and linear, de- 

 current in long, narrow wings along the 

 stem. Flower-heads solitary at the ends 

 of the branches, nearly globular ; the 

 innermost bracts ending in a small shi- 

 ning appendage ; the intermediate ones 

 in a long spreading prickle, with one or 

 two small ones at its base ; the outer- 

 most usually with only a few small, pal- 

 mate prickles, as in the Jersey C. Florets 

 of a bright yellow. 



In waste and cultivated places, in 

 southern Europe and western Asia, es- 

 pecially near the sea, and, as a weed of 

 cultivation, widely spread over Europe, 

 Asia, and other parts of the world. In 



