WILD FLOWERS OF THE BRITISH ISLES 
teeth (tubular) ; stamens 5, with united anthers, or o; carpels 2 or o. Fruit an achene crowned 
with the calyx-hairs (pappus). Perennial herbs with the large heart-shaped (cordate) leaves all 
coming from the root (radical) and appearing after the flowers. 
Common Butter-bur. (Petasites officinalis, Mceneh.)— The only native. As just 
described. The florets a pale mauvish-pink, the male and female florets being on different 
plants, the flower stalk being 4-12 inches high, thick and fleshy, with pale green sheath-like bracts 
sometimes ending in a small leaf, and the root creeping and very difficult to eradicate. [. Plate 70. 
Common. Marshy meadows and by the sides of streams. February — March. Perennial. 
*Winter Heliotrope, Sweet-scented Colt’s-foot. (Petatites fragrans, Presl.)— 
Not a native. Common in some places in the south. With the flower-stems bearing a few 
terminal flower-heads of dingy mauve, sweet-scented florets with an outer row of strap-shaped 
(ligulate) florets. 
Naturalised in shrubberies and under hedges in the south of England. December — February. 
Perennial. 
* White-flowered Butter-bur. (Petasites albus, Gsertn.)— An escape from cultivation, 
naturalised in some places. The florets are white, and the leaves small and deeply scalloped. 
Not a native. April — May. Perennial. 
CARLINE THISTLE. (CARLINA, LINN.) — Flower-heads conspicuous, showy from the 
coloured inner bracts. Florets all tubular, perfect, equal. Flower-bracts numerous, the outer leafy, 
spreading, with spinous teeth ; the inner, entire, long, membranous, coloured, spreading in a ray 
in fine weather, but closing up in rain. Calyx-tube surmounted with feathery hairs ; petals 5, all 
united into a tube and separating into 5 short teeth (tubular) ; stamens 5, with the anthers united ; 
carpels 2. Fruit an achene crowned with the silky, feathery calyx-hairs (plumose pappus). 
Spinous herbs with leaves deeply lobed from the midrib (pinnatifid). 
Common Carline Thistle. (Carlina vulgaris, Linn.) — The only British species (as 
just described). The flower-heads 1-1J inches across, usually 3 or 4 in a loose terminal cluster; at 
once distinguished by its long inner flower-bracts, which resemble petals and are glossy and straw- 
coloured, and spread open in fine weather ; they are membranous, of the texture of the Everlasting, 
and often remain on the plant till the next spring. The whole plant is from 4 inches to 2 feet high. 
Common on chalky soil. June — October. Biennial. [Plate 71. 
BURDOCK. (ARCTIUM, LINN.) — Flower-heads roundish, in loose, terminal masses (corymbs). 
Florets all tubular perfect, equal. Flower-bracts numerous, in many rows, slender, long, spreading, 
each ending in a hooked spine. Calyx-tube surmounted with hairs ; petals, 5, all united into a 
tube and separating into 5 short teeth ; stamens 5, with the anthers united ; carpels 2. Fruit an 
achene, flattened, crowned with the short, stiff calyx-hairs (pappus). Large stout plants with the 
root (radical) leaves very large, stalked, and heart-shaped (cordate), but none spinous, nor continued 
down the stem (winged or decurrent), nor deeply divided, as in the various Thistles, which in all 
other respects, except the hooked flower-bracts, the Burdocks resemble. 
Great Burdock. (Arctium majus, Bernh.) — As just described. The flower-heads, 
stalked, 1 inch or more across, nearly round, in loose terminal masses at the extremities of the 
stem and branches ; the florets purple with dark purple stamens and white styles ; the flower-bracts 
about the same length as the florets, cobwebby ; the stem 3-4 feet high, much branched ; and the 
root (radical) leaves very large, wavy, on long, solid stalks. 
Not uncommon. Waste places, waysides. July — August. Biennial. 
