Eryngium columnare Hemsl.

Eryngium columnare Hemsl. in Hook. Ic. pi. 2511. 1897
Stout, caulescent, glabrous perennials, 4-15 dm. high, from a short woody caudex bearing a fascicle of fleshy-fibrous roots, the stems solitary, erect; basal leaves numerous, herbaceous, linear-lanceolate, 2-5 dm. long, 8-15 mm. broad, broadest at or near the base, acuminate at the apex, spinose-lobed, the teeth divaricate or spreading, the longest 4—17 mm. long, axillary spines usually present, the venation parallel; sheaths as broad as the blades, plane or vaginate, 2-10 cm. long; cauline leaves few, like the basal, sessile, alternate below, ascending, the upper occasionally opposite, deeply spinose-serrate; inflorescence sparingly cymosely branched or simple, the heads large, few or solitary, pedunculate, the flowers numerous; heads deep blue, ovoid-oblong, 2-4 cm. long, 1.5-2 cm. broad; bracts 9-13, rigid, reflexed, linear-lanceolate, 2-5.5 cm. long, 3-8 mm. broad, pungent, conspicuously spinose-dentate toward the base, usually exceeding the heads; bractlets linear-subulate, 5-6 mm. long, curved, pungent, entire, exceeding the fruit; coma wanting; sepals ovate-oblong, about 2 mm. long, acuminate, mucronate; petals oblong, 2 mm. long; styles slender, exceeding the sepals; fruit turbinate, 3-4 mm. long, the lateral scales forming two entire wings, acuminate distally, otherwise naked.
Type locality: Mexico, Graham 217.
Distribution: Tamaulipas and Hidalgo to Mexico and Morelos {Pr ingle S243, Rose &• Painter 7188).