C E N T A U R E A Isnardi.
Jersey Star-thistle.
SYNGE NESIA Polygamia-frustranea.
G en. Char. Recept. bristly. Seed-down simple. Corolla;
of the radius funnel-shaped, irregular, longer
than those of the disk.
Spec. Char. Scales o f the c a ly x palmate and spinous.
Leaves toothed in a lyrate manner, roughish,
slightly clasping thé stem. Flowers sessile, terminal.
Syn. Centaurea Isnardi. Linn. Sp. P I. I295i Sm.
FI. Brit. 912. Dicks. H. S ic c .fa s c . 16. 10 . Hull,
ed. 2. 247.
Calcitrapoides procumbens, c icho rii folio, flore pur-
purascente. Isnard. JVLcm. de l ’Acad. des Sciences
f o r 1719 : German edition, 378. t. 19.
1STO part of the British dominions is known to produce this
plant, except the isle of Jersey, from whence it was sent to
Mr. Dickson, who has kindly communicated, last autumn,
from his garden, a specimen differing in no respect from wild
ones.
This is the only British Centaurea whose calyx-spines are
simply palmate, not compound. The root is perennial. Stems
procumbent, branched, leafy, angular, furrowed, roughish.
Leaves scattered, oblong, more or less deeply pinnatifid in a
lyrate manner, their lobes tipped with spines, their margins,
or both surfaces frequently, rough with short rigid hairs. The
upper leaves are lanceolate and nearly entire, several of them
placed about the base of the terminal solitary flowers. Calyx
ovate, smooth and naked, except the spreading flve-cleft thorns
of each scale. Corolla pale purple, with darker anthers.
Mr. J. D. Sowerby has found the filaments contract when the
anthers are touched, as related by many authors concerning
C. Calcitrapa, t. 125.