[ 4 * 2 ]
C A R D U U S tenuiflorus.
Slender-flowered or Welted T k flle.
5" 5. '
S T N G E N E S I A Polygamia-aqualis.
G en. Char. Cal. ovate, imbricated with fpinous fcales.
Receptacle hairy.
Jjpec. Char. Leaves decurrent, pinnatifid, fpinous.
Branches ftraight, winged. Flowers in terminal
clutters, feffile, nearly cylindrical. Scales nearly
ere<5t, tipped with long fpines.
Syn. Carduus tenuiflorus. Curt. Land. fafc. 6. t. .
Sibth. Ox. 244.. With. Rot. Arr. ed. 3. 698.
C. acanthoides. Hudf. FI. An. 351. Lightf. Scot.
4 5 1 • With. Bot. Arr. ed. a. 871.
C. fpinofiflimus capitulis minoribus. Rail Syn. 194.
. A f t e r much controverfy among our Britifh botanifts concerning
this thiftle, the herbarium o f Linmeus has decided it to
be none o f thofe mentioned in his works, though his pycnocepha-
lus and auflralis come fo very near it, that for fome time we have
been inclined to confider all three as varieties o f each other.
T h e two laft however have fewer fcales in their calyx, the ftalk
lefs winged, and their flowers (whether feffile or pedunculated)
are much fewer together, with lefs numerous florets alfo than in
the tenuiflorus. It is neceflary here to remark that the fynonyms
oi pycnocephalus in Sp. PI. are both falfe, Jacquin’s Hort. t. 44.
being the plant Linnaeus intended and defcribed ; the remark
in Syfl. Feg. “flofcults fapius 3 / 4,” is an abfurd blunder of the
editor, for the original m s . has “ fere 10,” which is true.
W e adopt Mr. Curtis’ s name, which is more apt than any
by which this plant has hitherto been called. W e cannot pay
the fame compliment to his C . polyacanthast which is the real
acanthoides o f Linnaeus.
T h e flender-flowered thiftle, though not a general plant, is
frequent on banks and among rubbilh near London, as about
Marybone, he. T h e root is annual. Stem ere£f, 3 feet high,
branched, winged with broad, fmuated, ftrongly fpinous portions
o f the decurrent leaves, which are in like manner fmuated and
fpinous, the radical ones being on Ihort footftalks, fomewhat
lyrate, and all a little cottony. Flowers terminal, cluftered, feffile,
eredb, pale rofe-coloured. Calyx nearly cylindrical; fcales
with a membranous margin, and ftrong yellow terminal fpinc,
not woolly, pale in their lower part, green at the tip. Florets
from 10 to 15 or more.. T h e calyx is permanent, according to
D r. Goodenough s obfervation, and not deciduous when the
feeds ripen, as in Q.. pycnocephalus.