Silybum Adans.
Annual or biennial herbs. Hairs short and mealy, or long, fine and cobwebby. Lvs alternate, sessile, pinnatifid, sinuate, dentate, auriculate to amplexicaul; lobes and teeth spine-tipped. Capitula homogamous, globose to ovoid, solitary. Involucral bracts in several series, ovate to linear, glabrescent, with sparse cobwebby hairs on margins; margins and apex spinous. Receptacle flat, with dense hairs; scales 0. Florets ⚥, all tubular. Corolla glabrous, 5-lobed, reddish purple. Anthers acute at apex, sagittate at base; filaments hairy. Style branches linear, erect, appressed. Achenes obovoid, smooth; achene insertion obliquely basal; pappus hairs in several rows, united at base into a ring; outer hairs stiff, scabrid; innermost hairs short, very fine.
2 spp., Mediterranean. Naturalised sp. 1.
