Carlina
(from Carolinus, pertaining to Charles, commemorative of the famous Charlemagne, whose army was said to have been cured of the plague by it). ORD. Compositae. Hardy or half-hardy annuals, biennials, or perennials. Pappus feathery; receptacle chaffy; involucre imbricated, tumid, the outer scales with numerous spines, the inner coloured, spreading, resembling a ray. They are of very easy culture in ordinary garden soil. A few only are worth growing, and are readily increased by seed, sown in spring.
C. acanthifolia (Acanthus-leaved).* fl.-heads white. June. l. pinnatifid, downy beneath; segments toothed, angular, spiny. Plant stemless. h. 2ft. Southern Europe, 1818. Hardy perennial. (A. F. P. iii., 51.)
C. acaulis (stemless). fl.-heads white. June. l. pinnatifid, naked; segments cut-toothed, spiny. Stem simple, one-flowered. h. 9in. Europe, 1640. Hardy perennial. SYN. C. subacaulis. (G. C. 1880, xiii., 1720.)
C. Biebersteiniana (Bieberstein's). fl.-heads purple. August. h. 2ft. Caucasus, 1816. Hardy perennial.
C. subacaulis. A synonym of C. acaulis.