Onopordum Cinereum
''Onopordum'', or cottonthistle, is a genus of plants in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae. They are native to southern Europe, northern Africa, the Canary Islands, the Caucasus, and southwest and central Asia. They grow on disturbed land, roadsides, arable land and pastures. They are biennials (rarely short-lived perennials) with branched, spinose winged stems, growing 0.5–3 m tall. In the first season they form a basal rosette of gray-green felted leaves and rarely a few flower heads. In the second season they grow rapidly to their final height, flowering extensively, and then die off after seed maturation. The leaves are dentate or shallowly lobed to compound with several pinnatifid or deeply cut leaflets, and strongly spiny. The terminal flower head is typical for thistles, a semi-spherical to ovoid capitulum with purple (seldom white or pink) disc florets. There are no ray florets. The receptacle is glabrous with dentate margins. The tube of the coroll ...
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Vaill
Vaill is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Amanda Vaill, American writer and editor *Peter Vaill, American academic *Teresa Vaill (born 1962), American racewalker See also * Dudley Vaill Talcott (1899–1896), American sculptor, author and illustrator * Edward W. Vaill House, historic house in New Jersey, United States *''Vaill.'', taxonomic author abbreviation of Sébastien Vaillant Sébastien Vaillant (May 26, 1669 – May 20, 1722) was French botanist who was born at Vigny in present-day Val d'Oise. Early years Vaillant went to school at the age of four and by the age of five, he was collecting plants and transplanti ...

Thorns, Spines, And Prickles
In plant morphology, thorns, spines, and prickles, and in general spinose structures (sometimes called ''spinose teeth'' or ''spinose apical processes''), are hard, rigid extensions or modifications of leaves, roots, stems or buds with sharp, stiff ends, and generally serve the same function: physically deterring animals from eating the plant material. Description In common language the terms are used more or less interchangeably, but in botanical terms, thorns are derived shoots (so that they may or may not be branched, they may or may not have leaves, and they may or may not arise from a bud),Simpson, M. G. 2010. "Plant Morphology". In: ''Plant Systematics, 2nd. edition''. Elsevier Academic Press. Chapter 9.Judd, Campbell, Kellogg, Stevens, Donoghue. 2007. "Structural and Biochemical Characters". In: ''Plant Systematics, a phylogenetic approach, third edition''. Chapter 4. spines are derived from leaves (either the entire leaf or some part of the leaf that has vascular bundles ...
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