Carduncellus
(the diminutive of Cardunculus, the Cardoon, and that from carduus). ORD. Compositae. Pretty hardy herbaceous perennials, related to Carthamus. Flowers all tubular; pappus setaceous; involucral bracts many-seriate, imbricate; receptacle flat, densely setose or paleaceous. They succeed well in ordinary garden soil, and are readily increased by divisions of the roots. Carduncellus is rarely grown outside botanic collections.
C. mitissimus (least-spiny). fl.-heads blue. May, June. l., cauline ones linear, pinnatifid, as long as the plant. h. 9in. France and Spain, 1734.
C. monspeliensium (Montpelier). fl.-heads blue. June, July. l. unarmed; radical ones toothed; cauline ones pinnate. h. 9in. South-west Europe, 1776.