498 
ONOPI 
colour. Root-leaves fmall, waved and pinnatifid. Stem- 
leaves oval-lanceolate, decurrent, th^ lower ones very- 
large, with deep triangular teeth ; thefe again toothed, 
each tooth terminated with a (harp wliitilh fpir.e, being 
the elongated nerves increafed in thicknefs*, and rendered 
rigid, juft before they approach the margin. Upper leaves 
lanceolate, with a few diftant teeth terminated by fpines. 
The decurrent membranes are alfo irregularly-toothed, 
each tooth furnifhed with fimilar fpines, which proceed 
from the Hem, and extend the membranes. Flowers Am¬ 
ple, upright, terminating; they are purple, very hand- 
fome and fhowy ; with a calyx of numerous expanding 
awl-fhaped fcales, terminating in (harp fpines. Seeds obo- 
vate, a little flattened, faintly angular, wrinkled, blackifli; 
crowned with a down, which is (lightly hifpid when mag¬ 
nified. Receptacle reticulated with fquare membranous 
cells, like a honeycomb. It is diftinguiflied from the 
thirties by the lalt circumftance; and, when the flowering 
is over, the innermoft fcales of the calyx clofe ftrongly to¬ 
gether. In the thirties, as foon as the feed is ripe, the 
firfthot day opens the heads,expands the pappus, and the 
lead wind carries away the feeds ; but in this plant they 
remain (hut up, and ftrongly defended; nor can they 
commit themfelves to the earth, or be eaten by birds, till 
long expofure to the weather has decayed the calyx ; on 
this account, they afford fuftenance to birds late in the 
year. It is not very fubjeft to the depredations ofinfefts; 
and it is defended by its ftrong fpines from the attacks of 
moll quadrupeds; the afs alone will fometimes browze 
on it. 
The receptacle of the flowers, and the tender (talks 
peeled and boiled, may be eaten in the fame manner as 
artichokes and cardoons. The ancients thought this 
plant a fpecific in cancerous cafes; fome of the moderns 
recommend its ufe externally in a cancer of the lips and 
face. According to Scopoli, a decofition of the root is 
reckoned a fpecific in a recent gonorrhoea. Native of 
Europe, on dry banks and in wafte places near habita¬ 
tions, feldom in open fields. It flowers in June and July. 
Its names in Englifli are cotton-thiftle, oat-thiftle , wild white 
thijile, argentile or filver thiftle ; in Yorkfhire, pig-leaves. 
The feeds are (aid to be a favourite food with the gold¬ 
finch, Fringilla carduelis of Linnaeus. See the annexed 
Plate, fig. i. 
a. Onopordum Tauricum, or Tartarian onopordum : 
calyx-fcales fpreading every way ; leaves decurrent, 
fmooth on both fides, finuated, toothed, fpinous. Na¬ 
tive of,Tartary. Similar in habit to the laft, but perfe&ly 
fmooth in all its parts, and fomewhat fmaller. This new 
fpecies is given entirely on the authority of Willdenovv, 
who drew his fpecific character of it from a dried fpeci- 
inen. 
3. Onopordum macrocanthum, Morocco or long-fcaled 
onopordum : calyx-fcales much fpreading, as long as the 
calyx ; leaves decurrent, downy, finuated, toothed, fpi¬ 
nous ; radical ones pinnate. Native of the empire of 
Morocco ; Dr. Sibthorp found it in the Archipelago. 
This alfo is taken from Willdenow; who merely fays that 
he faw a living fpecimen of it, and that it differs from O. 
acanthium in having longer calyx-fcales, and its radical 
leaves pinnate. 
4. Onopordum Illy ricum, or Illyrian onopordum: lower 
calyx-fcales reflexed, upper much fpreading ; leaves de¬ 
current, downy, finuated, deeply-toothed, and very fpi¬ 
nous. Stem fix or (even feet high, branched from its bafe, 
broadly winged, and extremely fpinous. Leaves long and 
narrow, l'carcely exceeding the Item in width, of a greenifli- 
white colour, deeply cut at their fides into ovate or lanceo¬ 
late fegments, fo as to be almolt pinnatifid. The habit of 
this fpecies, whole purple flowers are faid by Jacquin to 
be fometimes double the fize of what he has figured, is 
alfo very fimilar to that of the firft fpecies. Native of the 
fouth of Europe ; Miller fays, of Spain, Portugal, and 
the Levant: Ray is furprifed that botanifts (hould fetch 
this plant from Illyria, when it is common not only in 
R D U M. 
Italy and Sicily, but in the fouth of France : he found it 
abundantly about Orange. It was cultivated here in 1640, 
as appears from Parkinfon ; and flowers in July and 
Auguft. 
5. Onopordum deltoides, or Siberian onopordum : ca¬ 
lyxes fquarrofe, cobwebbed-tomentofe; leaves petioled, 
ovate, angular, tomentofe underneath. Native of Siberia. 
Introduced in 1784 by Mr. John Bell. It flowers in 
Auguft, and is perennial. 
6. Onopordum Arabicum, or Arabian onopordum: 
calyxes imbricated. This grows to the height of nine or 
ten feet; the (talks divide into many branches; the leaves 
are longer than in any of the other fpecies ; the heads of 
the flowers are large, and of a purple colour. Native of 
the fouth of Europe: Miller fays, of Spain and Portu¬ 
gal; Linnaeus, Portugal and the fouth of France. Cul¬ 
tivated in i 6 gt in the botanic garden at Oxford, as ap¬ 
pears from Plukenet. Ray muft have had it much ear¬ 
lier ; for in his Hiftory, publilhed in 1686, he fays, “ Car- 
duum hunc Cantabrigias olim in hortulo noftro aluimus, 
e femine Londino accepto ortum.” 
7. Onopordum Grsecum, or Grecian onopordum : ca¬ 
lyxes fquarrofe, cobwebbed-tomentofe ; leaves fpiny, fu- 
bulate-lanceolate, finuate, tomentofe. This is an annual 
plant, of a middle nature between the Arabicum and 
acanthium. Stem from a palm or foot to three feet in 
height, and very tomentofe. Root-leaves lanceolate, a 
foot and a half long or more, a palm in width, clofely 
tomentofe and hoary, ending in a pinnatifid petiole, finu- 
ate-pinnatifid and prickly. Stem-leaves running down 
the ftem. Native of the Levant. 
8. Onopordum acaulon, or dwarf onopordum: ftem- 
lefs. Root biennial, fufiform, half a foot long, ftraight, 
black and irregular on the outfide. Stem Angle, not more 
than two inches in height, erefl, terminated by a fertile 
white flower. Leaves of the firft year radical; of the fe- 
cond cauline, many, cluftered, elpecially at the top of 
the (talk, and fpreading out in a ring, fo that the plant, 
when feen from above, appears to be ftemlels. The na¬ 
tive place of this fpecies is not known. It was cultivated 
in 1739 by Miller ; and flowers in July and Auguft. 
| 3 . Cavanilles has a plant, which he names O. uniflo- 
rum, fingle-flowered onopordum, a native of Catalonia, 
that feems to be the fame with this. He deferibes the 
root as brown, the fpines of the leaves as yellow, the 
flowers as folitary and fertile, the fcales of the calyx as 
numerous and fmooth, the outer ones (horter, all ending 
in a rigid thprny point. He makes no mention of any 
fecondary heads of flowers, nor are any reprefen ted in 
the figure. He does not mention the colour of the florets. 
9. Onopordum rotundifolium, or round-leaved ono¬ 
pordum : ftem nearly wanting ; calyx oblong, almoft fef- 
file, its fcales oblong-lanceolate, downy, without fpines; 
leaves (talked, roundi(h,heart-(haped, notched or toothed, 
without fpines, downy. Found in dry (tony places in 
Swifferland and Italy. Root thick and fucculent; radi¬ 
cal leaves about three or four, roundidi, firm, thick', 
woolly, and veined. Flowers compofing a large, folitary, 
nearly-feflile, bell-fliaped, head. 
10. Onopordum Orientale, or Oriental onopordum: ca¬ 
lyxes fquarrofe; leaves oblong, pinnate-finuate, decur¬ 
rent; head large. This rifes with an upright branching 
Italic feven or eight feet high ; the leaves are long, and re¬ 
gularly finuated on their borders, like pinnatifid leaves ; 
the heads of flowers are very large, and the calyxes very 
fquarrofe and prickly. It grows naturally about Aleppo. 
11. Onopordum elatum, or tall onopordum: calyx- 
fcales widely-fpreading, as long as the calyx ; leaves de¬ 
current, finuated, toothed, fpinous, hairy. Gathered in 
Crete by Tournefort and Sibthorp. Root biennial. The 
whole herb is hairy all over, and of a green colour, not 
downy of woolly. The flowers are two or three inches 
broad. 
Propagation and Culture. Some of thefe plants were 
formerly cultivated for the table, but it was before the 
Englifh 
t 
