(said to have cured the army of Charlemagne [Carolinus] of the plague). Composite. Low rather coarse annuals, biennials or perennials, with thistle-like foliage, large white or purplish heads, a feathery pappus, and chaffy receptacle: outer involu-cral bracts coriaceous, usually spiny, the inner ones colored or shiny and petal-like: fruit a silky-hairy achene. -Some 15 or 20 species in the Medit. region.

An open sunny place and ordinary garden soil are all they require. They are capital for the sunny part of a rockery. Propagated by cuttings or seeds.

Acaulis

Linn. A very dwarf hardy perennial; height 3-6 in.: leaves glossy, pinnatifid, divided, with spiny ends: flower rising barely above the foliage, solitary, very interesting, the scales surrounding the flower-head being long and narrow and ray- or petal-like, silky, shiny: head 6 in. across when expanded, white. June, July and late fall. G.C. II. 13:720-1. G.L. 19:178.

Acanthifolia

Linn. A white-tomentose thick-lvd. biennial, the leaves oblong, the upper pinnatifid and spiny: flower-heads 4 in. wide, yellowish purple. S. Eu. July and later. G.C. III. 47:68. - Little known in U. S.

N. Taylor, †