Carline, or Caroline Thistle, the Carlina, L. a genus of plants plants comprising nine species, of which the vulgaris, or Wild Carline Thistle, only is indigenous, and generally indicates a barren soil. The other species are propagated from seeds, which should be sown in a bed of fresh undunged earth, but not be transplanted, as they will not bear this operation. When the plants appear above ground, they must be carefully weeded, and afterwards thinned, being left about a foot apart. The Carline blows generally in the second year, but, if the season be wet, it seldom produces good seeds, and often decays soon after blowing. Its flowers have the remarkable property of expanding in dry, and closing in moist weather; from which circumstance they are often considered as natural hygrometers. In Germany, the acaulis, a species of this genus, forms an article of food, and the roots, when dressed like artichokes, or made into salads, are highly esteemed. In Switzerland, this plant is also cultivated on account of its culinary utility} besides which it furnishes an agreeable food to goats, as they eat it eagerly, but it is refused by cows and other animals.

The Carline is known principally from its roots, as they are sometimes used in hysterical cases, for which they are said to be an excellent remedy. They have a strong smell, a sub-acrid, bitterish, aromatic taste, and were formerly imported from the more southern parts of Europe.