t 243 ]
C E N T A U R E A folftitialis.
St. Barnaby s l ’hißle.
y%6.
S T N G Ê N E S IA Potygamia frußranea.
G en. C har. Receptacle briftly. Seed-down fimple.
Ccr. o f the radius funnel-fhaped, irregular, longer
than thofe o f the difk.
Spec. C har. Flowers folitary. Calyx doubly fpi-
noiis. Stem-leaves decurrent, without fpines,
lanceolate ; radical ones lyrato-pinnatifid.
S yn. Centaurea folftitialis. Linn. Sp. PL 1297. Hudf.
FI. An. 377. With. Bot. Arr, 946. Smith Lr. of
Linn. Soc. Vi 2. 236.
Carduus ftellatus lureus foliis Cyani. Rail Syn. 196.
Yellow Thiftle. Petiver Herb. Brit, t . z i . f . 12.
D l S C O V E R E D by Mr.> Crowe in a field at Arminghall
near Norwich, fee Linn. Soc. Lvaiif. above quoted. Upon mature
confideration we have no doubt o f this being the real plant
o f Ray and Hudfon, more particularly as it is that o f Petiver,
who in this cafe is the beft and bldeft authority we can find.
His figure is evidently C. foljlitialis and not melitenfis. The
plant has o f late been fought in vain about Cirence fter; and
being fo very rare a native, we now venture to prefent the
public with a figure which, though taken from a garden fpe-
cimen (Mr. Crowe’s being deformed and damaged), perfectly
exhibits the true habit o f the fpecies when wild.
Ehe root is annual, whitifh. Stem near two feet high, alternately
branched, winged from the decurrent leaves, which
are lanceolate and entire, flightly waved ; the radical leaves are
4 or 5 inches long, lyrate, the lobes alternate, acute, the terminal
one large, and more or lefs triangular. Flowers folitary
at the end o f each branch, bright yellow. Scales o f the calyx
tipped with palmated yellowifh fpines, o f which the central
one is very long, ftrong, and different from the reft. T h e whole
herb is harfli and rigid, but clothed with a cotton-like web (as
is the calyx), fomewhat vifcid and intenfely bitter. It flowers
about Midfummer, whence the name; but lafts till late in
autumn, and in the fouth o f Europe even till December.