Scolymus
Annual, biennial or perennial herbs; stems branched, usually with spiny wings, striate. Leaves basal and cauline, alternate; basal leaves rosetted, toothed to pinnatisect, spiny; cauline leaves smaller, pinnatifid to pinnatisect, rigid, spiny, bases decurrent into wings. Capitula few to many, terminal and upper ones axillary, sessile or subsessile; involucre ovoid, bracts in several series, unequal, spiny, outer ones leaf-like; receptacle flat, deciduous ovate scales present. Florets ligulate, bisexual, yellow; ligule linear, minutely 5-toothed; anthers sagittate at base; style bilobed, with filiform branches. Cypselas obovoid, dorsally compressed, glabrous; pappus of a few coarse barbellate bristles (in Victoria) or absent.
3 species, all from the Mediterranean region; 2 species naturalised in Australia.
Jeanes, J.A. (1999). Asteraceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 4, Cornaceae to Asteraceae, pp. 652–666. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning