912 SYNGENESIA. _®QUALIS. Gaeimixis 
c. marianus. Leaves amplexicaul, halberd-shaped, wing-cleft, spinous: 
calyx without any leaves near it: thorns channelled, and set 
with other little thorns: (down capillary. E.) 
JCniph. 1— Curt. 148—(Z?. Bot. 976. E.)— Black. 79 — Ludw. 35— Fuchs. 
56— J. B. iii. a. 52. 2— Trag. 850— Lonic. i. 70. 2— Ger. 989— Pet. 21. 9 
— Bod. 722. I— Lob. Obs. 479. 1, and Ic. ii. 7. 2— Ger. Em. 1150— Park . 
976. l—II. Ox. vii. 30, row 2. 1,/. 4 —Matth. 676. 
( Stem four to six feet high, leafy, cylindrical, scored, smooth. E.) Leaves 
generally ornamented with broad and beautiful white veins, though 
sometimes entirely green. The large purple blossom and the strong 
thorns of the calyx, an inch or more in length, sufficiently distinguish 
this from other indigenous species. 
pappus may be employed as an useful ingredient for the manufacture of paper. The agri- 
culturist whose lands are infested with these noxious weeds, should unceasingly exercise 
his small hoe or spud ; though, for complete extirpation, the instrument for extracting 
Docks may be preferable. Fallow and hand-weed; but in clay, where they will not draw, ' 
cut close with a spade, says Holdich. Mr. Curtis ascertained the annual increase of its 
root by planting a piece two inches long and the thickness of a goose’s quill, and a small 
head of leaves. By the second of November the root had extended itself eight feet, and - 
when dug up and washed it weighed four pounds. This is the common Way Thistle or :.i*M 
Pasture Thistle, which grows almost every where. If neglected, no weed is more un- 
sightly and injurious. The second growth, observes Mr. Holdich, often gets into reapers’ 
hands; but the first, if not destroyed, will overtop the wheat, bearing numerous clusters ; 
of flowers, and.shedding their winged seeds in most noxious abundance. The propagation 
by root seems also unceasing. The same w'riter states, “the roots are jointed, white, 
and of a very succulent texture. I have found in spring, innumerable small Thistles, as 
it were, bursting from their matrix, and have gently pulled the horizontal zigzag roots 
from the soil, with many green buds and shoots just appearing. This, therefore, is their 
manner of reproduction : the fibres left shoot out larger roots, which also rise higher in 
the soil, and spread ; these form buds, and hence come our annual crop of Thistles. 
Thus Providence has contrived a necessity for perpetual exertion, attended with pro¬ 
portionate success. “ By the sweat of thy brow tbou shalt eat bread,” is an ordination, 
the fulfilment of Avhich is the principle which puts all mankind in motion. The necessity 
of subsistence produces industrious hands for every department of labour ; but the in¬ 
dolent nature of man requires every stimulus to exertion. The weeds of the field excite 
emulation, and foul fields are always a reproach. Thus are we compelled by an unseen 
hand to better habits and more active industry.” Essay on Weeds of Agriculture. The 
same argument maybe found admirably extended in the “Pastoral Conversations” of 
Dr. Warton, exposing the folly of Atheism. The most unwelcome weeds are there 
proved not only to be essential to stimulate the requisite exertion of man, but, in a certain 
degree, to be indirectly conducive even to his sustenance, by supplying food to numerous 
tribes of insects, which again tend to the support of other animals, as birds, &c. on which he 
partially depends.—This, and several other of the Carduacece, im\v be considered dioecious. 
Mr.Smith (in Linn.Tr. vol. xiii.)observes, C.arvensis rarely produces seed; which is chiefly 
attributable to the separation of the sexes, and the plants of each sex growing together 
in large patches without intermixture : hence the chance of fecundation being effected is 
much dihiinished. This apparently,defective arrangement would seem to be obviated by 
an extraordinary power of radication. E.) Cassida liriophora inhabits this species of 
Thistle. Uredo suaveolens, “ confluent, odoriferous, seeds purplish brown,” is frequently 
found on the leaves, changing them to a light yellow in spots. In corn-fields may some¬ 
times be observed a beautiful little nondescript mouse, the smallest of British quadrupeds, 
which attaches its nest, (“ a wonderful procreant cradle,” as Mr. White describes it, 
perfectly round, about the size of a cricket ball, most artificially platted, and composed of 
the blades of wheat,) containing eight young ones, suspended, as it were, in the head 
of a thistle! E.) 
