i> A. [ I07 1
C ARDU US lanceolatus.
Spear Thißle.
S T N G E N E S I A Polygamia JEqualls.
G en. Char. Cal. ovate, imbricated with fpinous fcales.
Receptacle hairy.
Spec. Char. Leaves decurrent, pinnatifid, hifpid; their
fegments divaricated. Calyx villofe. Stem hairy.
Syn . Carduus lanceolatus. Linn. Sp. PL 1149. HudJ.
FI. An. 350. With. Bot. Arr. 868. Relh. Cant. 304.
C. lanceatus. Rail Syn. 195.
A m o n g the various tribes of thiftles, many of them very
intricate to a botanift, this is one of the moft eafily diftinguifhed,
as well as the moft common. All our road-fides, banks and
heaps of rubbifh are occupied by it, of which it feems proudly
to take pofieflion, to the exclufion of all vegetables befides. Yet,
as Dr. Withering obferves, it is often a Ihelter and protection
to other plants, and is one of the firft to grow in places where
many would not thrive. In other refpefts its ufe in the ceco-
nomy of nature is not very difcernible, except that the feeds
are eaten by fmall birds, particularly the Gold-finch.
Root biennial. Stem erect, three or four feet high, firm,
branched, ftl'iated, flightly hairy, and covered like the back of
the leaves and calyx with a cotton-like web. The leaves, white
beneath, are green and very hifpid on the upper fide, decurrent
at the bafe, and all their indentations are armed with ftrong
divaricating fpines. It begins flowering in June, and lafts till
winter.