Bull Thistle (Cirsium lanceolatum) is the thistle that we most often see in fields and pastures. It is one of the largest of the genus, its heads often measuring 3 inches across. The stem is stout and simple, and grows from 1 to 3 feet high; it is hairy and angular in section and grows from a biennial rootstalk.
The flower-heads are very large, 2 to 3½ inches across and usually solitary, although frequently two heads grow on the same stalk. The leaves are lance-shaped, green, clasping, rather hairy, pinnatifid and armed with short, stout prickles. Just below the flowers are several small bract-like leaves, also armed with sharp prickles. All this armor tends to discourage pilfering insects from crawling up the stem; should they persist and reach the large involucre, which is also armed, they will find that, in addition, it is slightly sticky, and presents an impenetrable barrier to their upward progress. This species is common from Me. to Del. and Pa. It blooms from July until September.
(A) Star Thistle (Centaurea nigra, var. radiata). The slender stein branches slightly and rises to heights of 1 to 2 feet, each branch bearing a solitary flower-head at the end. The flower-head has a round involucre of tawny, or dark brown, dry bracts; the florets are all tubular and rose-purple.
This species, which is introduced from Europe, grows in waste places and along roadsides from N. S. to Ontario and south to N. J. and Pa. It may be found in bloom from July until September.
(B) Chicory; Succory (Cichorium intybus) (European) has become thoroughly naturalized and is common in the eastern half of the United States, especially so near the coast.
The stem is stiff, tough, and angular in cross-section; it attains heights of from 1 to 3 feet. The leaves are long-lanceolate, dark gray-green and coarsely toothed. The flowers are very beautiful—a violet-blue, approaching a pure blue in color. There are at least two ranks of strap-shaped rays, the inner ones much shorter, all toothed at the ends. Succory blooms in dry situations from July until October.
(A) Fall Dandelion (Leontodon autumnalis) (European) is a small dandelion, naturalized from Europe and common in the Eastern States during fall, or from the latter part of July. The leaves, tufted at the base of the flower scape, are long and narrow and have blunt teeth. The flower scape is long and slender and usually forks near the summit, bearing two or three flower-heads, rarely only one; the scape attains heights of 7 to 18 inches. The flower stalk is not hollow like that of the common dandelion, but is solid. It grows in fields and along roadsides and is quite common from Newfoundland to Mich. and south to Pa.