Carduus nutans, L.

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 : 223

5. C. nutans L. , Sp. PI. 821 (1753).

Up to 150 cm; stem more or less arachnoid-hairy; wings up to 10 mm, triangular or palmate, with an apical spine up to 8 mm. Leaves more or less sparsely hairy to lanuginous beneath, with crispate multicellular hairs, with 6-10 pairs of usually palmate lobes. Capitula 20-45 x 20-65 mm, depressed-globose; inner involucral bracts slightly longer than the inner middle, obscurely 3-veined. Corolla 16—24(—28) mm. Achenes 4-5 mm, swollen; pappus 13-24 mm. 2л= 16. W. & C. Europe, northwards to Scotland, and extending to Sicilia, C. Jugoslavia and Ukraine. Au Be Br Cz Ga Ge He Ho Hs It Ju Rs (W,?K) Si [Da Su].

1 Spines on wings of stem and leaf-lobes not more than 4 mm; pappus 18-24 mm (c) subsp. platylepis 1 Spines on wings of stem and leaf-lobes not more than 8 mm; pappus 13-18 mm

2 Leaves deeply lobed, with distant and usually palmate lobes; capitula 20-40(-50) mm in diameter (a) subsp. nutans 2 Leaves lobed | (rarely j) of way to midrib, with ovate, obtuse,

not palmate, contiguous lobes; capitula 40-60 mm in diameter (b) subsp. alpicola