480 COMPOSITE, [Cnicus. 



ments. Involucre oblong ; bracts many-seriate, riorid, pungent or 

 spinescent, outer shorter, inner spathulate, innermost linear or lan- 

 ceolate, sometimes all connate into a tube with one long rigid spine 

 on the outer side. Receptacle minute. Filaments glabrous ; 

 anther-hases sagittate, auricles connate ; tails short, entire or fim- 

 briate. Style-arms thick, and with a thick basal ring, at length 

 spreading. Achenes elongate, usually villous. Pappus-crown of 

 many short free or connate bristles. — Species about 70, in S. Europe, 

 N. Africa, and Asia to Japan. 



E. echinatns, Eoxh. Hort Beng. 62; Fl. Ind. Hi, 447 ; Boyle III. 246; 

 F. B.I Hi, 358; Kanjilal For. Fl. 8ch. Circ. 210; Collett Fl, Siml 270; 

 Cooke Fl. Bomb, ii, 54.— Vern. Golcru. (Globe Thistle). 



A much- branched spreading ripid annual, 1-3 ft. high. Stem branched 

 from the base, clothed with white cottony puhescence. Leaves sessile, 

 3-5 in. long-, oblong, pinnatifid (the lobes ending iu long rigid spines), 

 glabrous or scaberulous above, white beneath with cottony wool. Heads 

 1-flowered, arranged in a compact globose inflorescence I-I5 in. in diam. 

 ' (excluding the stout spines). Involucre of each head surrounded by 

 strong white pappus-like bristles ; outer invol-bracts 6-8, oblanceolate, 

 glabrous, pungent, one or two often produced into V^ng sharp spines 1 

 in. or more in length ; inner 5 in. long, connate, their tips ciliate and 

 hardening round the achenes. Anfher-tails fimbriate. Achenes ^ in. 

 long, obconic, densely silky. Fappus short, yellowish. 



Fairly abundant throughout the area. Flowers during the hot season. 

 DisTBiB. W. Bengal and on the Shan Hills in Upper Burma, Punjab 

 Plain ascending to 5,000 ft . on the W. Himalaya, Afghanistan, Sindh, 

 and throughout the Deccan. 



41. CNICUS, Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. lii, 362. 



Erect berbs. Leaves alternate, often decurrent, serrately toothed 

 or pinnatifid, spinescent. Heads solitary, long-peduncled or sub- 

 sessile, scattered or crowded, homogamous. Flowers all hermaphro- 

 dite and fertile, rarely dioecious, white yellow or red, tube slender ; 

 limb equal or oblique, 6-fid. Involucre ovoid hemispheric or globose ; 

 bracts many-seriate, appressed, erect spreading or recurved and spines- 

 cent, outer foliaceous. Receptacle flat or convex, densely bristly. 

 Filaments hairy or glabrous. Anther-bases sagittate, auricles 

 connate, tails slender. Style-arms short;, rarely filiform, obtuse. 

 Achenes obovoid, obtusely 4-angled, smooth or 5-10-ribbed, truncate 

 or the top umbonate, basal areole nearly straight. Pappus copious, 



