Carduus platypus, Lange

9. C. platypus Lange View in CoL , Ind. Sem. Horto Haun. 1857: 26 (1857).

Biennial up to 85 cm. Stem sparsely arachnoid-hairy; wings up to 8 mm wide, with wide triangular lobes with an apical spine up to 7 mm. Leaves oblong or oblong-lanceolate, glabrous or glabrescent above, with sparse, crispate multicellular hairs on the veins beneath, with 6-8 pairs of ovate, subobtuse lobes, each with an apical spine up to 7 mm. Capitula 30-40 x 30-60 mm, subglobose, not or scarcely umbilicate at base; peduncles up to 15 cm and 3 mm in diameter; outer and middle involucral bracts not constricted, the patent distal | usually curled in an S-shape, lanceolate, acute; middle bracts 2-3mm wide, with the mid-vein raised in the upper 0.7; inner bracts 3-veined, slightly longer than inner middle; all bracts glabrescent. Corolla 18-25 mm. Achenes 5-6 mm, swollen, minutely rugulose-punctulate; apical prominence sessile, subentire; pappus 15-20 mm. Cultivated ground, waste places and streamsides. • N. W. & C. Spain’, E. C. & N.E. Portugal. Hs Lu.

Variable, even within the same population, in lobing and hairiness of leaves, size of plants etc. See R. Fernandes, Mem. Soc. Brot. 9: 101 (1953).