Onopordum caulescens, D'Urv

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1976, Flora Europaea. Volume 4. Plantaginaceae to Compositae (and Rubiaceae), Cambridge University Press : 246

8. O. caulescens D’Urv ., Enum. 105 (1822)

( O. sibthorpianum Boiss. & Heldr. ).

Plant up to 50 cm, with unicellular hairs, not viscid. Stem yellowish, usually with a dense arachnoid indumentum; wings dentate-spiny, not reticulate-veined, with an apical spine up to 6 mm. Leaves up to 20 x 6 cm, lanceolate or oblonglanceolate, sessile, pinnatifid, with 6-8 pairs of lobes, greyish-green and sparsely arachnoid-hairy above, whitish-tomentose beneath; lobes with an apical spine up to 6 mm. Capitula 30-35 x 25-35 mm; involucral bracts appressed in basal |, the outer and middle bracts with long, free, coriaceous, semi-conical, patent or recurved points, 3-5 mm wide at their base, tapering to a spine up to 5 mm. Corolla 22-25 mm. Achenes 4-5 mm, brownish; pappus 11-13 mm, the hairs shortly plumose. Aegean region. Gr *Tu.