Cnicus
(from chnizein, to injure; alluding to the prickly armature of the plant). Thistle. SYN. Cirsium. ORD. Compositae. A genus containing about 200 species of annual, biennial, and perennial herbs, of which but very few are in cultivation, and still fewer are worth the trouble of growing. Pappus deciduous, feathery; involucre swelling, imbricated with spinous scales; receptacle hairy. They are all of the easiest culture in ordinary soil. Propagated by seeds, sown in spring.
C. acaulis (stemless).* fl.-heads purple; involucre ovoid, glabrous. Summer. l. stalked, glabrous, radical, lanceolate, pinnatifid; lobes sub-trifid, spinous. h. 2ft. Europe (Britain). Perennial. (Sy. En. B. 692.) C. altissimus (tallest).* fl.-heads purple; involucre bracteate, ovate. August. l. sessile, oblong-lanceolate, scabrous, downy beneath, toothed, ciliated; radical ones pinnatifid. h. 3ft. to 10ft. United States, 1726. Hardy herbaceous perennial. (G. C n.s., xi. 437.) C. ambiguus (ambiguous). fl.-heads purple. July and August. l. ciliate, spiny, downy beneath; lower ones stalked, oblong, acuminate, sub-sinuate; upper ones pinnatifid, auricled. h. 2ft. Tyrol, &c., 1820. Hardy perennial. C. benedictus (blessed). Blessed Thistle. An ornamental biennial, with large deep green leaves, which are blotched and marbled with silvery-white. South Europe. This plant now forms a genus by itself; its proper name is Carbenia benedicta.
C. ciliatus (ciliated). fl.-heads purple; involucre ovate. August. l. amplexicaul, hispid, pinnatifid; segments two-lobed, spreading, spiny, downy beneath. h. 3ft. Siberia, 1787. Hardy perennial.
C. conspicuus (conspicuous). fl.-heads scarlet, large and very handsome, terminal; involucre long, conical. l. alternate, sessile; lower ones 6in. to 8in. long, deeply pinnatifid, or even bipinnatifid; margin waved and sinuated, and armed with short brown or purplish spines. Stem 3ft. to 6ft. high, erect, much branched, angled and furrowed. Mexico. Biennial. SYN. Erythroloena conspicua. (B. M. 2909.) C. discolor (two-coloured). fl.-heads pale purple, rarely white; involucre globose, with cobweb down. July, August. l. sessile, pinnatifid, hairy, downy beneath; segments two-lobed, spreading, spiny. h. 2ft. United States, 1803. Biennial.
C. Douglasii (Douglas's). A synonym of C. undulatus. C. eriophorus (wool-bearing). fl-heads purple; involucre woolly, spherical. July. l. sessile, pinnatifid, every other segment pointing upwards, spiny, scabrous. h. 2ft. Europe (Britain). Biennial. (Sy. En. B. 687.) C. Grahami (Graham's). fl.-heads rich crimson, large. l. lanceolate, sinuate, spiny-toothed, snow-white beneath. h. 3ft. to 5ft. New Mexico, 1871. A handsome thistle, with slender-branched snow-white stems. Biennial. C. spinosissimus (most spiny).* fl.-heads pale yellow, terminal, clustered. June to august. l. amplexicaul, pinnatifid, toothed, spiny, pubescent. Stem simple. h. 3ft. Europe, 1759. Hardy perennial. (B. M. 1366.) C. undulatus (undulated).* fl.-heads purple, corymbose, scarcely rising above the leaves; scales of the involucre smooth, purplish, spiny at the point. summer. l. pinnatifid, the lateral lobes elongated, often bifid, terminal lobe elongated; more or less spiny. h. 1ft. California. Perennial. SYN. C. Douglasii.