Cirsium altissimum
Cirsium undulatum
roadside thistle, tall thistle
gray thistle, wavy-leaf thistle, wavyleaf or gray or pasture thistle
single, erect, villous with septate trichomes, sometimes ± glabrate, sometimes distally thinly tomentose;
branches few–many, ascending.
1–several, erect or ascending, densely gray-tomentose;
branches 0–few, usually above middle, ascending.
blades oblanceolate to elliptic or ovate, 10–40 × 1–13 cm, margins flat, finely spiny-toothed and otherwise undivided to coarsely toothed or shallowly pinnatifid, lobes broadly triangular, main spines 1–5 mm, abaxial faces white-tomentose, adaxial faces green, glabrate to villous with septate trichomes;
basal usually absent at flowering, winged-petiolate, bases tapered;
principal cauline well distributed, gradually reduced, bases narrowed, sometimes weakly clasping;
distal cauline well developed.
blades elliptic to oblong or ovate, 10–40 × 1–10 cm, margins strongly undulate, coarsely dentate or shallowly to deeply lobed, lobes ascending to spreading, ± triangular, well separated to closely spaced, spinulose and coarsely dentate or usually cleft into 2–3 lanceolate to triangular, often entire-margined, spine-tipped divisions, main spines (yellowish), 2–12+ mm, abaxial densely gray-tomentose, adaxial faces thinly tomentose;
basal sometimes present at flowering, winged-petiolate;
principal cauline becoming sessile and progressively reduced distally, widest at base, bases ± auriculate-clasping to short-decurrent;
distal reduced, spinier.
0–5 cm (leafy-bracted).
0–25+ cm.
ovoid to broadly cylindric or campanulate, (2–)2.5–3.5(–4) × (1.5–)2–3(–4) cm, thinly arachnoid.
ovoid to hemispheric or broadly campanulate, 2.5–4.5 × 1.5–4.5 cm, loosely arachnoid on phyllary margins or glabrate.
tips 4–6 mm.
pink to purple (white), 20–35 mm, tubes 10–16 mm, throats 5–12 mm, lobes 5–9 mm.
lavender to pink, purple, or white, 24–50 mm, tubes 12–28 mm, throats 6–14 mm, lobes 6.5–13 mm;
style tips 5–7.5 mm.
in 10–20 series, strongly imbricate, greenish with subapical darker central zone, ovate (outer) to lanceolate (inner), abaxial faces with a narrow glutinous ridge (milky when fresh, dark when dry), outer and middle entire, bodies appressed, spines slender, abruptly spreading, 3–4 mm;
apices of inner phyllaries spreading, narrow, flattened, entire, spines spreading, slender, 3–4 mm;
apices of inner phyllaries spreading, narrow, flattened, ± dilated, ± erose or finely serrulate.
in 8–12 series, imbricate, ovate to lanceolate (outer) to linear-lanceolate (inner), abaxial faces with prominent glutinous ridge;
outer and middle appressed, spines spreading, 1.5–5 mm;
apices of inner narrow, often flexuous, flat, ± entire, spineless or weakly spiny.
1–many, in corymbiform or paniculiform arrays, (± elevated above principal cauline leaves), not subtended by ring of spiny bracts.
1–10+, terminal on branches, in leafy, ± corymbiform arrays.
tan to dark brown, 4–5.5 mm, apical collars stramineous, 0.5–1 mm;
pappi 12–24 mm.
light to dark brown, 6–7 mm, bodies and apical collars concolorous, narrow;
pappi 20–38 mm (usually scabridulous).
= 18.
= 26.
Cirsium altissimum
Cirsium undulatum
Plants of Cirsium altissimum ranging from southern Minnesota to Texas often have more deeply divided leaves than do populations in other portions of the species’ range. Some botanists (e.g., R. J. Moore and C. Frankton 1969; D. S. Correll and M. C. Johnston 1970) have treated those plants as C. iowense. Others (e.g., R. E. Brooks 1986; H. A. Gleason and A. Cronquist 1991; G. B. Ownbey and T. Morley 1991) have treated them as C. altissimum. Still others considered them to be derivatives of hybridization between C. altissimum and C. discolor (J. T. Kartesz and C. A. Meacham 1999) and treated them as C. ×iowense. Indeed the existence of these plants blurs the distinction between C. altissimum and C. discolor, and herbarium specimens are often difficult to assign.
Natural hybrids between Cirsium altissimum and C. discolor are well documented (R. A. Davidson 1963; G. B. Ownbey and Hsi Y.-T. 1963; Ownbey 1964; S. Dabydeen 1997). Ownbey and Dabydeen both reported that apparent F1 hybrids between the two species have low seed set in comparison with the parental taxa. W. L. Bloom (1977) reported that the chromosomes of the two species differ by several rearareaments. Dabydeen reported a count of 2n = 19 with multiple meiotic irregularities for an apparent F1 hybrid. However, the presence of numerous individuals and populations seemingly intermediate between C. altissimum and C. discolor indicates that although F1 hybrids have low fertility, long-term processes may have stabilized hybrid derivatives of higher fertility. Ownbey and Hsi reported mitotic counts of 2n = 18 and 20 from a population that they treated as C. altissimum. In their discussion they noted that their plants represented “the segregate called C. iowense” and had been collected a short distance from that taxon’s type locality. R. J. Moore and C. Frankton (1969) reported a chromosome number of 2n = 18 for a plant from Texas that they considered to be C. iowense. Further investigation of morphologic variation, chromosome number, meiotic behavior, and fertility is needed of populations named as C. iowense to determine how those plants should be treated.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Cirsium undulatum is widely distributed in the wstern half of North America from the dry plains and plateaus of the Pacific Northwest eastward across the Great Plains to Manitoba and the Dakotas and south to Texas, New Mexico, and northwestern Mexico. It occurs in scattered localities in the Rocky Mountains and northeastern Great Basin region. At least some of the few widely scattered records from the eastern United States are probably introductions. Cirsium undulatum is both widespread and variable. Plants of the Great Plains region tend to be low-growing with a few large heads and elongate corollas. Plants of the Pacific Northwest are usually taller and produce smaller, more numerous heads with shorter corollas. A detailed study of this species might reveal races worthy of recognition as infraspecific taxa.
Wavyleaf thistle is listed by California as a noxious weed. However, most reports of Cirsium undulatum in California are based upon misidentifications of C. canescens. Cirsium undulatum is known to hybridize with C. flodmanii, C. hookerianum, and C. scariosum var. coloradense. J. T. Howell (1960b) reported that C. undulatum was suspected to hybridize with C. brevifolium in the Pacific Northwest.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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