ERYTHROLiENA conspicua.
Conspicuous Erythrolana.
N a tu ra l Order. C o m p o s i t í e . Adanson fam . 2. 103.
Sect. I I . Carduaceje. K u n th synops. 2. p . 364.
3) Carduacece v era . ^ i- i-
E R Y T H R O L M N A . Involucrum conicum; toliolis acu-
minatis, interioribus imbricatis integerrimis, exterioribus re-
flexis spinoso-dentatis. Receptaculum convexum, pilosum. I lo s -
culi omnes hermaphroditi, tubulosi: limbo altm quinquepartito :
laciniis linearibus apice incrassatis : tubum 5-angulum basi an-
gustatum. F ilamenta g\aada\oso-pi\osa. basi bisetosse.
S tigma bifidum; laciniis approximatis. Pappus sessilis, plumosus.
E. conspicua, caule erecto ramoso, foliis inferioribus laciniato-
pinnatifidis subpubescentibus supra atroviridibus nitentibus
subtus pallidis reticulato-venosis: segmentis divaricatis spinoso
dentatis undulatis; superioribus lanceolatis spmoso-den-
tatis, involucro glabro : foliolis lanceolatis acuminatis.
Biennial? Stem, in our specimen, 8 feet high, with
18 branches, clothed with a loose woolly down, furrowed
with numerous channels, more or less of a
purple colour : branches erect, or slightly spreading,
downy. Leaves very stiff and rigid, those at the base
laciniately pinnatifid, above 2 feet long, and more
a foot in breadth; more or less pubescent on both
sides, the upper side of a dgrk glossy green, underneath
paler, and reticulately veined: segments divaricately
spreading, undulate, laciniately toothed, the pomts and
teeth terminated with strong sharp spmes, which point
in various directions ; stem-leaves sessile, or halt clasping
the stem, lanceolate, taper-pointed, very much
undulate, sinuately toothed, armed with strong spines,
and smaller ones intermixed, the spines pointing various
ways, as in the large leaves. Flowers terminal
and axillary, clustered at the end of the mam stem,
erect before expansion, a little nodding when expanded,
and more so when overblown. Peduncles striate,
thickly clothed with a dense woolly down generally
producing a leaf at the base, or a littte below the
flower. Involucre regularly conical, tapering to a slender
point before expansion, of a bright glossy scarlet:
lower leaflets broadest, lanceolate, Avidened at the base,
;