C A R D U U S. 
4. Carduus nutans, or nnifk thiftle : leaves femidecur- 
pe-nt, (piny ; (lovers drooping; fcales of the calyx fipread- 
ing at top. Steins two to three feet high, overfpread, as 
are alio the leaves, peduncles, and calyxes, with a cot¬ 
tony down. It is well known to cntomoloTrts on account 
of the moths, which feed copioufly on it. The dried flow¬ 
ers of this fpecies, as well as the former, are fometimes 
nfed to curdle milk. Paftures in a calcareous foil ; road¬ 
sides in a (andy or gravelly foil; common on moft'of the 
fallows‘about Cambridge. Biennial; it flowers in June, 
the firft: of the thirties. 
• 5. Cardiius acanthoides, or prickliert thiftle : leaves de- 
current, rtnuate> (piny about the edge'; calyxes peduncled, 
lolitary. ■ f villofe. Flowers (mail, pale purple, crowd¬ 
ed on tli-- topp.f 1 1 e llera, The colour of the whole plant Sth 
or grey. It is called by Gerarde, thirtle upon thirties- by 
Parkinfon, the mod; prickly thirtle. Grows on ditch- 
banks, road-fides, trade places, borders of corn fields, in 
mod parts of Europe ; flowering from June to September. 
There is much confufion in this and the following fpecies, 
and' it is very doubtful whether our acanthokies be the 
fame with tliatof many foreign authors'. Haller received 
our plant botli from Dillenius and Hudfon, and deter¬ 
mines it to be the acanthoides of John Batthin, but not of 
Linnaeus: the latter he takes to be only a variety of car- 
duus crifpus,. with the fpinc-s of the leaves rtronger ; the 
flowers larger, folitary, and ercCt. Pollich alio deferibes 
the flowers of the acanthoides as being folitary. The late 
Mr. Lightfoot fays pofitively that cardiius acanthoides of 
Linnaeus is a different plant from ours, though he retains 
the name. Mr. Curtis, however, who has taken much 
pains to afeertain tins thirtle, is of opinion, that the car¬ 
duus crifpus of Hudfon anti Light foot is the fame with 
the acanthoides of Linnaeus, which lie names polyacan- 
thos, after Morifon, Parkinfon, and Schreber. To the 
acanthoides of John Bauhin, Hudfon, and Lightfoot, he 
gives a new name, tcnuijlorus . It is fometimes found 
with white flowers, and in different fituations varies from 
two to five feet in height, is more or lefs hairy, and has 
its flowers more or lefs cindered. 
6. Cardiius crifpus, or curled thirtle : leaves decurrent, 
finuate, fpiny about the edge; flowers aggregate, termi¬ 
nal ; fcales of the calyx unarmed, fubarirtated, expanded. 
Stem green ; grows wild in the fame foil and fituations 
with the foregoing; flowers about the fame time; and 
like that is annual. 
7. Cardiius polyanthemus: leaves decurrent, finuate, 
ciliate, naked beneath ; flowers peduncled heaped. This 
fo much refembles carduus crifpus, as not to be dirtin- 
guifhed from it without difficulty ; but neither the pe¬ 
tioles nor leaves are tomentofe underneath ; (lem loftier ; 
leaves paler beneath, but not whit?. Native of Rome. 
Biennial. 
8. Carduus paluflris, or marffi thirtle : leaves decur- 
rent, toothed, prickly at the edge; flowers in racemes, 
upright, peduncles unarmed. Stem four, five, or fix, 
feet, in height, in woods frequently ten or twelve, up¬ 
right, branched, multangular, hirfute with numerous 
long white hairs, winged, prickly, variegated longitudi¬ 
nally with green and purple; leaves of a deep green co¬ 
lour ; flowers purple, fertile, in cinders on tiie top of the 
llera and branches ; feeds whitifh and fhining. Being ne¬ 
ver found but in wet places, it is not likely to be mif- 
taken for any other thirtle ; it has ufttally more purple 
about it than the red of its kindred ; and, formidable as its 
dents and leaves are from their numerous prickles, the 
heads of flowers and peduncles are perfectly harmlefs. It 
is wild in mod parts of Europe, in marfhes, boggy.woods, 
and moift heaths, commons, and meadows; flowering in 
July. It varies with a white flower, as moft of the thirties 
occartonally do. In Yorkfhire it is called red thirtle. The 
tender (talks of this (and moft of the forts) are efculent, 
being firft peeled and boiled. They are thus eaten, as Lin¬ 
naeus informs us, by the inhabitants of Smoland. 
9. Carduus pycnocephalus, or Italian thirtle ; leaves 
decurrent, pinnatifid'- finuate, pubefeent, fpiny, -peduncles 
naked, tomentofe, calyxes deciduous. This is a fort of 
intermediate plant between No. 6 . and the cotton thirtle. 
Stern a foot high or more, white with hairs; the edges of 
the leaves uninterruptedly decurrent tin each fide, alter¬ 
nately flexuofe and thorny. Native of the fouthern parts 
of Europe. Linnaeus, Gotian, &c. make'it perennial: 
according to Allioni, it is annual, It was cultivated in 
1739 by Mr. Miller. 
10. Carduus argentatus : leaves decurrent, runcinate, 
fpiny; peduncles fubtomentofe, one-flowered; calyxes 
ovate, mucronate unarmed. Stem a foot high, flexuofe, 
even, alternately branched. It approaches to the fore¬ 
going by its niilky-fpotted leaves, and' cne-flowered pe¬ 
duncles. It is remarkable that many Egyptian plants are 
fpotted with white, as this and three other fpecies of thif- 
t!e. This is an annual plant. 
11. Carduus aurtral-is : leaves decurrent, runcinate, 
fpiny; calyxes fubfeffile terminal. Stem a foot high, 
round, ftriated, woolly-villofe. It is like the foregoing, but 
the flowers are not peduncled. Native of foitthern Europe. 
12. Carduus difledliis, or meadow thirtle: leaves de- 
current, lanceolate; toothlets unarmed: calyxes fpiny. 
The leaves are wholly void of prickles. According to- 
Villars, the root is perennial and creeping; the Item from 
a foot and a half to two feet in height, ftraight, grooved,, 
whitifh, and terminated by one or two flowers; the leaves 
oblong, lanceolate, and fertile, cut about the edge, and 
white beneath : calyx a little open, but not prickly ; 
the flower red. 
13. - Carduus cyanoides, or blue-bottle-leaved thirtle: 
leaves decurrent, pinnatifid, linear, quite entire, unarmed, 
petioled, tomentofe beneath. The leaves 'have a white- 
cotton underneath without ferratures or bridles: grows 
wild in Tartary. Introduced 1778, by Mr. W. Malcolm. 
14. Carduus canus, or hoary thiftle : leaves decurrent,. 
lanceolate, erofe-toothed, ciiiate-prickled, cobwebbed- 
fubvillofe on both fides. Roots flefhy, white ; (lem four 
feet high, green, angular, cobwebbed ; leaves ciliate, 
with little white fpines fcarcely pungent; flowers folitary, 
purple. Native of Auftria and Tende. Perennial. Cul¬ 
tivated in the gardens of Parkinfon, Tuggye and Ray. It 
flowers in July. 
15. Carduus pedlinatus : leaves decurrent, lanceolate, 
pinnatifid-pedfinate, peduncles very long; heads, when 
part flowering, drooping. Stem two feet high, crept, 
even, unarmed, as is the whole plant; flowers the fize 
of burdock, purple, with a long pirtil; filaments white, 
erePt. Biennial. It came up from feeds fent from Pen- 
fylvania. 
16. Carduusdefloratus, or various-leaved thirtle: leaves 
decurrent, lanceolate, ferrate, fubfpinofe-ciliate naked, 
peduncles very long, lanuginous,* one-fi.owered. Stems* 
many, angular,, fmooth, leafy, generally fimple. Villars 
obferves, that this plant varies remarkably in the form of 
its leaves, but that the fpecific characters may eafily be 
eftablifhed on its creeping, blackifh, rape-like, roots ; on 
the Item' winged at bottom, naked at top, terminated by 
one of two flowers on its oblong prickly leaves, more or 
lefs cut and fringed, but always of a dark green ; on its 
lengthened woolly peduncles ; on its fmooth green calyx, 
without prickles; and on its flowers of a fine red co¬ 
lour, and often nodding. According to Haller, it is a 
variable plant, having moft ufually a naked Hera, and- 
many firm, fhining, fmooth leaves, next the ground, either 
entire or femipinnate ; flower fpecious, purple, often nod¬ 
ding when advanced. It is frequently found with the 
whole ftem branching, and the flowering branches fhorter : 
and fometimes with the.leaves fo prickly, as to refemble 
the Carline thirtle.. Native of Montpellier, Swiiferland, 
Carniola, and Gorizia. Perennial. 
17. Carduus monfpertTulanus, or Montpellier thiftle: 
leaves decurrent, lanceolate, fubrepand, fmooth, unequally 
ciliate; peduncles alternate, calyxes unarmed. Leaves, 
fmooth on both fides, glaucous, entire; radical ones re.- 
E and. 
