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Flodman's thistle

edible thistle

Habit Tap-rooted biennial or short-lived perennial, flowering only once, 4-20 dm. tall, the stem succulent, thick below and tapering.
Leaves

Leaves green but sparsely covered with long, soft hairs on both surfaces, moderately spiny, lobed, lanceolate to oblanceolate, up to 3 dm. long.

Flowers

Heads usually borne singly at the ends of the branches;

involucre 2-4 cm. high, spider-webby, its bracts loose, not much inbricate, all slender and tapering, all but the inner with short spine tips;

flowers all tubular, bright pink-purple, the corolla tube 7-11 mm. long, the corolla lobes 5-10 mm. long;

style exerted 3-8 mm. beyond the corolla lobes;

receptacle densely bristly.

Cirsium flodmanii

Cirsium edule

Flowering time June-August July-September
Habitat Grasslands, stream banks, and roadsides at low to middle elevations. Forest openings and edge, meadows, roadsides, and other open areas at low to middle elevations in the mountains.
Distribution
British Columbia to north-central Washington,south in the Rocky Mountains from Alberta, east to the Great Plains and Great Lakes region.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to Oregon.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Origin Native
Conservation status Review Group 1 in Washington (WANHP) Not of concern
Sibling taxa
C. arvense, C. brevifolium, C. brevistylum, C. edule, C. hookerianum, C. inamoenum, C. remotifolium, C. scariosum, C. undulatum, C. vulgare
C. arvense, C. brevifolium, C. brevistylum, C. flodmanii, C. hookerianum, C. inamoenum, C. remotifolium, C. scariosum, C. undulatum, C. vulgare
Subordinate taxa
C. edule var. edule, C. edule var. wenatchense
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