Carduus Tenuiflorus. Slender-Flower’d Thistle. 
CARDUUS. Linn. Gen. P/. Syngenesia Folygamia Aequalis. 
Calyx ovatus, imbricatus, fquamis fpinofis. Recepi, pilofum. 
Rah Syn. Gen. g. Herea: flore ex flosculis fistularibus composito sive 
capitata;. 
CARDUUS tenuiflorus foliis decurrentibus margine fpinofis, ramis ftri£lis, calycibus aggregatis feflilibus 
oblongo- conicis, fquamis eredlo-patulis pungentibus. 
CARDUUS acanthoides foliis decurrentibus pinnatifidis, margine fpinofis, calycibus aggreo-atis feflilibus 
fubcylindricis glabris. Lightfoot FI. Scot. V. i. p. 451. Grey welted fhi?lle. 
CARDUUS acanthoides foliis decurrentibus finuato-dentatis, margine fpinofis, calycibus ovatis termi- 
nalibus aggregatis felfilibus, fquamis acuminatis ere&iufculis. Hudfon 11. Anpl. cd. 2. 
p. 351. Welted Thiftle. 
CARDUUS alis caulinis latiflimis, foliis femipinnatis, pinnis angulofis, fpinofis, floribus longis fafci- 
culatis. Hali. Hifl. 166. 
CARDUUS acanthoides. J. Bauh. Hifl. 3. p. 516. 
CARDUUS fpinofiflimus capitulis minoribus. P.B. Raii Hi ft. V. 1. p. 300. Syn. ed. q. p. 104. Welted 
Thiftle with fmall flowers. 
CARDUUS polyacanthos, capitulis longioribus et tenuioribus foliis albicantibus. Morif. Hifl. 3. p. 153. 
ROOT annual. 
STALK from two to three feet high, upright, branch 
ed at the bafe, branches few, long, upright, 
perfectly ftraight, roundilh, flightly grooved, 
cottony, particularly towards the tops, winged, 
wings broad and fpinous. 
LEAVES of the ftalk feflile, decurrent, veiny, above 
fmoothifh, green, befet with whitilh hairs 
prelfed dole, beneath cottony, the midrib 
whitilh, the edge fcolloped,” toothed, and 
fpinous, fpines long and yellowifh ; radical 
leaves ovato-oblong, obtufe, divided into 
lobfs which are broad, obtufe, and doling 
together. 
FLOWERS in clufters on the tops of the branches, 
feflile, fmall, of a pale purple or flefh-colour. 
CALYX : common to all the florets of an oblong-conical 
lhape, imbricated, fcales upright, fpreading 
at top, long and linear, fpinous, whitilh at 
the bafe, green in the middle, and terminating 
in yellow fpines the length of the florets. 
COROLLA compound, tubular and uniform; the 
Florets hermaphrodite, and nearly equal, fig. 1. 
SEEDS and Down nearly the fame as in the pricklieft 
Thiftle, fig. 2. 
J. Bauhine appears to be the firft writer who accurately determined this Carduus, which he calls acanthoides ; 
Ray afterwards gave an excellent defcription of it in his Hifl. PI. and Morison chara&eriftically defined it 
in his Hifl. Oxon. Linnaeus in his Spec. PL ed. 3. applies J. Bauhine’s name of acanthoides to a very different 
Thiftle, our poly acanthos, referring to it at the fame time the fynonyms of J. Bauhine, Ray, and Morison 
which truly belong to the prefent fpecies (vid. fynon.) and which it is probable Linnaeus never faw, as it is 
not a Swedifh plant, nor a very general European one; Mr. Lightfoot finding Linn. eus’s defcription not 
to accord with our plant, gave a new fpecific defcription to it, retaining the name acanthoides, and Mr. Hudson 
does the fame; it may therefore be expe&ed, that we fhould continue the term acanthoides firft impofed, 
and fo far properly belonging to it, but we are too friendly to reform fo to do, conceiving that the term 
tenuiflorus will almoft of itfelf diferiminate the fpecies, while acanthoides means comparatively nothing, we make 
no fcruple to change the name. 
This thiftle is a very common one in the environs of London, growing in the very fuburbs ; it affe£ls 
warm, fheltered fituations, and is therefore moft frequently found at the foot of paling, walls, hedges, and on 
ditch banks, flowering from June to Auguft : Dr. Goodenougii obferves to me, that he has found it to be 
a common plant near the fea fide, but rare in the more interior parts of the kingdom ; this probably arifes from 
its being a fomewhat tender plant. 
It is obvioufly diftinguifhed from all our other Cardui by its upright mode of growth, by the breadth of the 
wings on its ftalks, whence its name of welted, the greyifh appearance of its foliage, and, above all, by its long, 
cluftered heads, producing fmall flowers, of a pale purple or flefh colour, little longer than the very fharp 
fpines of its calyx. 
Size excepted, we have not found it fubjeft to much variation. 
We often meet with fpecimens much larger, and with more numerous flowers, than is fhewn in our figure, 
which is not intended to reprefent the plant in its moft luxuriant ftate. 
The Farmer or Gardener have little or no caufe to complain of it. 
RADIX annua. § 
CAULIS bi-tripedalis, ereQus, bafi ramofus, ramis pau- 0 
cis, fubelongatis, ereflis, ftri&is, teretiufeulis, fj 
leviter fulcatis, tomentofis, maxime verfus X 
fummitates, alatis, alis latis, fpinofis. 
<D 
FOLIA caulina feffilia, decurrentia, venofa, fupra gla- (0 
briufcula, viridia, pilis adpreflis albidis oblita, V 
fubtus tomentofa, cofta albida, margine finu- § 
ata, dentata, fpinofa, fpinis longis, lutefeenti- 5 
bus; radicalia ovato-oblonga, obtufa, incifo- a 
lobata, lobis latis, obtufis, confluentibus. K 
FLORES in ramorum fummitatibus congefti, fefliles, 0 
parvi, pallide purpurei, aut carnei. ¥ 
CALYX : communis oblongo-conicus, imbricatus, fqua- I 
mis ereffo-patulis, lineari-elongatis, fpinofis, X 
bafi albidis, medio viridibus, apice in fpinas <§ 
lutefeentes longitudine flofculorum exeunti- § 
bus. © 
COROLLA compofita, tubulofa, uniformis ; Corollulce ? 
hermaphrodita:, fubasquales,./#. 1. X 
SEMINA et Pappus eadem fere ut in Card. Polyacanth. a 
fg- 2' ® 
