Carduus cephalanthus, Viv.

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 : 231

47. C. cephalanthus Viv. , Fl. Cors. 14 (1824).

Annual or biennial up to 100 cm. Stem arachnoid-hairy; branches greyish-tomentose; wings very narrow, with triangular projections up to 5 mm, each with an apical spine up to 7 mm. Leaves oblanceolate or lanceolate, subglabrous above, very sparsely arachnoid-hairy beneath, with unicellular hairs, with 6-8 pairs of palmate lobes, each with 1-3 pairs of triangular-acute lobules. Capitula 13-20 x 7-10 mm, subsessile, in dense clusters of 5-20; involucral bracts 2-2-5 mm wide, closely imbricate, more or less contracted into a spine 1-2 mm, the mid-vein raised only in the distal arachnoid, smooth, the outer bracts ovate, the middle ovate-lanceolate; inner bracts If times as long as the inner middle, veinless. Corolla 13-16 mm. Achenes 2-5-3-5 mm, swollen, rugulose; apical prominence shortly stipitate, 5-lobed; pappus 8-12 mm. 2л = 22. Rocky places, usually near the sea. W. Mediterranean region. Co Hs It Sa Si.