Carduus nigrescens, Vili.

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 : 226

22. C. nigrescens Vili. , Prosp. Pl. Dauph. 30 (1779).

Biennial up to 65 cm. Stem arachnoid-hairy; wings up to 6 mm, triangular, with an apical spine up to 4 mm. Leaves oblanceolate to oblong, sparsely hairy above, with numerous multicellular and a few straight unicellular hairs beneath, with 8-10 pairs of ovate, subobtuse lobes, each with an apical spine up to 2 mm. Capitula 25-40 mm in diameter, subglobose, usually on naked peduncles up to 12 cm and 2 mm in diameter; outer and middle involucral bracts strongly recurved at the middle, 1 -5-2 mm wide at the base, linear-subulate, glabrous or almost so, the mid-vein raised in the distal I; inner bracts not more than 1| times as long as the inner middle bracts, 1 -veined in the distal |. Corolla 22-25 mm. Achenes 3-4 mm, compressed, nearly smooth; apical prominence sessile, wide, 5-lobed; pappus 15-18 mm. Waste places and disturbed ground. 9 S. & S.C. France, N. W. Italy, N.E. Spain. Ga Hs It.