Carduus affinis, Guss.

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 : 229

32. C. affinis Guss. , Pl. Rar. 334 (1826).

Perennial up to 100 cm. Stem more or less hairy; wings small, triangular, with an apical spine up to 10 mm. Leaves oblanceolate or oblonglanceolate, glabrous or glabrescent above, hairy with sinuate unicellular hairs beneath, with 8-10 pairs of lanceolate-acuminate lobes, each with an apical spine up to 7 mm. Capitula 10-25 x 10-20 mm, globose-ovoid, corymbosely arranged in the upper f of the stem; peduncles up to 18 cm and 3 mm in diameter; involucral bracts 0-75- 1 -5 mm wide, imbricate or the outer somewhat patent, linear-subulate, with the mid-vein raised throughout its length; inner bracts 1| times as long as the inner middle bracts. Corolla 18-20 mm. Achenes 3-4 mm, more or less swollen, nearly smooth; apical prominence distinct, sessile, subglobosecylindrical, 5-lobed; pappus 9-13 mm. Mountain woods and grassland. • C. & S. Appennini. It.