飞廉亚族 fei lian ya zu

Authors: Zhu Shi & Werner Greuter

Herbs, annual to perennial. Capitula homogamous. Phyllaries pointed, ending in a straight or recurved spine; inner phyllaries sometimes with a scarious appendage. Receptacle with dense long bristles. Florets bisexual, rarely unisexual and then plants dioecious. Corolla ± actinomorphic. Stamen filaments distinct, ± pubescent. Style branches coherent for most of their length. Achene glabrous; apical rim forming a smooth-margined upright crown; apical plate with a prominent oleaginous central umbo (elaiosome). Pappus of scabrid or plumose bristles basally connate into a ring and falling off together.

Eleven genera and ca. 380 species: E and N Africa, Asia, Europe; two genera and 49 species (23 endemic) in China.

Cynara scolymus Linnaeus and C. cardunculus Linnaeus, of Mediterranean origin, are cultivated in China for their edible receptacle and phyllaries. Another Mediterranean species, Silybum marianum (Linnaeus) Gaertner, is grown as an ornamental and for its achenes, which are used medicinally.

Lower Taxa

• Asteraceae (Tribe CARDUEAE) Subtribe CARDUINAE
• Carduus Linnaeus
• Cirsium Miller