172 COMPOSITE. 
2. C. acantfioides (L.) ; 1. decurrent spinose-ciliated lanceolate 
glabrous or cottony beneath deeply pinnatifid : lobes trifid and 
dentate, heads solitary or aggregated roundish, involucral scales 
linear-subulate erect or ascending. — E. B. 973. — St. about 3 feet 
high. — L. broadly lanceolate nearly glabrous beneath, heads usu- 
ally solitary and stalked. C. acanthoides L. — /3. crispus ; 1. nar- 
rower woolly beneath, heads usually aggregate. C. crispvs L. — 
I find no permanent character by which to separate these plants. 
— Dry banks and waste places. /3. is the more common variety. 
B. ? VI.— VIII. 
3. C. tenuiflorus (Curt.) ; I. decurrent sinuate spinous broadly 
lanceolate cottony beneath : segments ovate lobed, heads nume- 
rous aggregate sessile subcylindrical, involucral scales ovate-lan- 
ceolate attenuated. — E. B. 412. — St. about 3 feet high, slightly 
branched, with broad deeply lobed spinous wings. L. deeply 
sinuate or pinnatifid. Involucres nearly glabrous. Florets pink. 
— Sandy places near the sea. B. ? VI. — VIII. 
** Pappus feathery. Cnicus Linn., Sm. Cirsium Koch, DC. 
f L. spinous-hairy above, fl. purple. 
4. C. lanceolatus (L.) ; I. decurrent white and cottony beneath 
pinnatifid : lobes bifid with lanceolate entire segments each ter- 
minated by a strong spine, involucres ovate shaggy, scales lanceo- 
late spinous spreading. — E. B. 107. — St. 3 — 4 feet high, erect, 
furrowed, hairy, with strong spinous wings. Heads terminal, 
solitary or 2 or 3 together, large ; florets purple. — Waste ground. 
B. VII. VIII. Spear Thistle. 
5. C. eriophorus (L.) ; I. half clasping not decurrent white and 
cottony beneath deeply pinnatifid : lobes bifid the segments lan- 
ceolate entire alternately pointing upwards and downwards and 
each terminated by a strong spine, involucres globose shaggy, scales 
lanceolate with a long linear spinous-tipped reflexed point. — 
E. B. 386. — St. 3—4 feet high, much branched, furrowed, hairy. 
Root 1. 1 — 2 feet long, linear, with long divergent lobes which 
form double rows in a very regular manner. Stem 1. similar but 
smaller. Heads very large ; involucre covered with a dense white 
web ; florets purple. A remarkably conspicuous plant. — Waste 
ground on a limestone soil. B. VIII. Woolly -headed Thistle. 
ft Leaves not spinous-hairy above. 
6. C. arvensis (Curt.) ; heads subdicecious, I. subsessile oblong- 
lanceolate pinnatifid spinous wavy, involucres ovate subglabrous : 
scales broadly lanceolate adpressed terminating in a short spread- 
ing spine, root creeping. — E. B. 975. — St. erect, 3 — 4 feet high, 
leafy, angular, corymbose above. L. very spinous, sessile or very 
slightly decurrent. — (i. latif alius; 1. glabrous oblong broad sinu- 
