Carthamus L.
Annual to perennial herbs. Stems not winged. Hairs long and multicellular, short and glandular, and cobwebby. Lvs alternate, sessile, simple, dentate to 2-pinnatifid, the teeth spinose. Capitula homogamous, ovoid, solitary. Involucral bracts in several series, the outer leaflike, the inner sometimes with scarious apical appendages; hairs long and multicellular, short and glandular, and cobwebby. Receptacle convex; scales numerous, linear. Florets ⚥, all tubular. Corolla glabrous, 5-lobed, yellow to red or violet. Anthers tapered to a rounded apex, with short basal appendages; filaments bearded. Style branches linear, erect, appressed. Achenes oblong to subpyramidal, glabrous, rugose or smooth; achene insertion oblique; pappus scales 0 in outer achenes, in several rows or 0 on inner achenes, the inner rows much > the outer; scales stiff, sordid or brown, ciliolate, free to base.
Key
13 spp., Mediterranean, Eurasia. Naturalised spp. 2.