Cirsium andersonii |
Cirsium carolinianum |
|
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Anderson's thistle, rose thistle |
Carolina or purple or soft or smallhead thistle, Carolina thistle, soft thistle |
|
Habit | Perennials (but often appearing biennial), (15–)40–70(–100) cm; rootstocks producing erect, taprooted caudices and rosettes. | Biennials, 50–180 cm; taproots short with many slender, fibrous lateral roots. |
Stems | usually 1, erect, subglabrous to puberulent and/or tomentose; branches 0–several, stiffly ascending. |
usually single, erect, glabrous to ± tomentose, sometimes sparsely villous with septate trichomes; branches few, usually distal, ascending. |
Leaves | blades ± elliptic, 8–35 × 4–8 cm, divided about halfway to midveins, lobes spreading, triangular, coarsely dentate or with a few broad lobes, obtuse to acute, main spines 1–5 mm, abaxial faces green or gray, thinly tomentose, adaxial green and glabrous to sparingly pilose; basal often present at flowering, spiny winged-petiolate; main cauline reduced distally, bases clasping; distal much reduced, linear-oblong, usually less deeply lobed and often spinier than proximal. |
blades linear to oblanceolate or elliptic, 10–30 × 1–5 cm, unlobed and spinulose to irregularly dentate or pinnatifid, lobes narrowly to broadly triangular, sometimes coarsely toothed or lobed toward base, acuminate, main spines slender, 1–5 mm, abaxial faces gray-tomentose, adaxial glabrous or sparsely villous with septate trichomes; basal often present at flowering, petioles slender, winged, bases long-tapered; principal cauline relatively few (10–25), petiolate or distal sessile, mostly restricted to proximal 1/2 of stems, progressively reduced distally, bases tapered, not decurrent; distal cauline widely separated, linear to narrowly elliptic, reduced, becoming ± bractlike, merely spinulose to irregularly dentate or shallowly lobed. |
Peduncles | 0–20 cm. |
slender, 1–15 cm (not overtopped by distal leaves). |
Involucres | broadly cylindric to narrowly campanulate, 3–5 × 2–4 cm, loosely arachnoid or ± glabrous, finely short-ciliate. |
narrowly ovoid to campanulate, 1.2–2 × 1.2–2 cm, thinly arachnoid-ciliate. |
Corollas | red to reddish purple, 30–45 mm, tubes 10–20 mm, throats 10–16 mm, lobes 9–11 mm; style tips 3.5–5 mm. |
pink-purple (white), 15–20 mm, tubes 5–9 mm, throats 5–7 mm (noticeably wider than tubes), lobes 4–5 mm; style tips 4 mm. |
Phyllaries | in 6–8 series, imbricate, outer green, inner purple to red, linear-lanceolate (outer) to linear (inner), abaxial faces without glutinous ridge; outer and mid bodies short, appressed, entire or spinulose-ciliate, apices long-spreading to ascending, entire or spinulose-ciliate or rarely with expanded, fringed appendages, spines straight, weak, 1–3 mm; apices of inner red to purple, straight or rarely twisted, long, flat, entire. |
in 7–10 series, imbricate, green, linear to lanceolate (outer) or linear to linear-lanceolate (inner), abaxial faces with narrow, glutinous ridge; outer and middle ascending to appressed, bodies entire, apices widely spreading (at least the outer), spines ascending to spreading (at least the outer), slender, 1–4 mm; apices of inner phyllaries flat, often twisted, acuminate. |
Heads | 1–6, borne singly or in corymbiform, racemiform, or spiciform arrays. |
(1–)2–9(–many), in paniculiform arrays. |
Cypselae | brown, 6–7 mm, apical collars narrow; pappi 25–40 mm. |
light brown, 3–4 mm, apical collars yellowish, 0.5–1 mm; pappi 12–14 mm. |
2n | = 32, 64. |
= 20, 22. |
Cirsium andersonii |
Cirsium carolinianum |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer (Jul–Sep). | Flowering spring–summer (Apr–Jul). |
Habitat | Moist to dry soils, openings in montane woodlands, montaine coniferous forests, aspen groves | Wooded areas, openings, fields, roadsides |
Elevation | 1100–2900 m (3600–9500 ft) | 50–300 m (200–1000 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; ID; NV
|
AL; AR; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; OH; OK; SC; TN; TX
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Discussion | Cirsium andersonii grows in the Cascade Range of northern California south through the Sierra Nevada of eastern California and western Nevada. It has been reported from the mountains of southwestern Idaho, but I have not seen specimens from there. Heads of Cirsium andersonii are actively visited by hummingbirds as well as a variety of insects (P. L. Barlow-Irick 2002). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Cirsium carolinianum is widely distributed in the southeastern United States: on the Gulf coastal plain from Texas to Alabama north through the Ouachita and Ozark highlands to southeastern Missouri; in the Ohio River Valley from southernmost Illinois to southern Ohio and northern Kentucky; and in the southern Appalachians and Piedmont from Alabama and Tennessee to southern Virginia. Cirsium carolinianum, though widespread, is a taxon of conservation concern over part of its range. The replacement of open woods by dense forests brought about by fire suppression has greatly reduced available habitat. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 19, p. 145. | FNA vol. 19, p. 118. |
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Cardueae > Cirsium | Asteraceae > tribe Cardueae > Cirsium |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Cnicus andersonii | Carduus carolinianus, C. flaccidum |
Name authority | (A. Gray) Petrak: Bot. Tiddsskr. 31: 68. (1911) | (Walter) Fernald & B. G. Schubert: Rhodora 50: 229. (1948) |
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