Flora of North America species comparison

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Cirsium crassicaule

slough thistle
Habit Annuals or biennials, (60–)100–300 cm; taprooted.
Stems

usually 1, erect, stout, (hollow, 2–10 cm diam. at base), openly branched distally, thinly arachnoid, villous with jointed trichomes, at least proximally.
Leaves

blades elliptic to broadly oblanceolate, 15–70 × 30–150+ cm, flat, pinnatifid 1/2–2/3 distance to midvein, larger usually with broad sinuses, lobes broad, few lobed or dentate, main spines 3–8 mm, abaxial faces gray-tomentose, adaxial thinly arachnoid-tomentose, sometimes midveins with jointed trichomes;

basal present or withered at flowering, winged-petiolate;

principal cauline sessile, progressively reduced distally, bases clasping or short-decurrent 1–2 cm;

distal cauline reduced, becoming bractlike, sometimes spinier than proximal.
Peduncles

0–15 cm.
Involucres

ovoid to campanulate, 1.5–3 × 1.5–3 cm, ± glabrous.
Corollas

pale rose-purple (white), 19–26 mm, tubes 9–12 mm, throats 4–6 mm, lobes 5–9 mm;

style tips 3.5–4.5 mm.
Phyllaries

in 5–7 series, weakly unequal, dark green to brownish, lanceolate (outer) to linear (inner), abaxial faces without (or with very obscure) glutinous ridge;

outer and middle appressed or apices spreading, at least outer irregularly spiny-fringed, finely serrulate, spines slender, 3–5 mm;

apices of inner erect, abaxial faces gray-tomentose, ± twisted.
Heads

1–several at branch tips, closely subtended by clustered leafy bracts or not, collectively forming open, corymbiform or paniculiform arrays.
Cypselae

dark brown, 5–5.5 mm, collars narrow, ± stramineous;

pappi 15–20 mm.
2n

= 32.

Cirsium crassicaule
Phenology Flowering spring (Apr–Jun).
Habitat Freshwater marshes, canal banks
Elevation 5–100 m (0–300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Cirsium crassicaule is known only from a few sites in the San Joaquin Valley. Some populations are threatened by habitat modification and development pressures.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 132.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Cardueae > Cirsium
Sibling taxa
C. altissimum, C. andersonii, C. andrewsii, C. arizonicum, C. arvense, C. barnebyi, C. brevifolium, C. brevistylum, C. canescens, C. carolinianum, C. ciliolatum, C. clavatum, C. cymosum, C. discolor, C. douglasii, C. drummondii, C. eatonii, C. edule, C. engelmannii, C. flodmanii, C. foliosum, C. fontinale, C. grahamii, C. helenioides, C. hookerianum, C. horridulum, C. hydrophilum, C. inamoenum, C. joannae, C. kamtschaticum, C. lecontei, C. longistylum, C. mohavense, C. muticum, C. neomexicanum, C. nuttallii, C. occidentale, C. ochrocentrum, C. ownbeyi, C. palustre, C. parryi, C. perplexans, C. pitcheri, C. praeteriens, C. pulcherrimum, C. pumilum, C. quercetorum, C. remotifolium, C. repandum, C. rhothophilum, C. rydbergii, C. scariosum, C. texanum, C. tracyi, C. turneri, C. undulatum, C. vinaceum, C. virginianum, C. vulgare, C. wheeleri, C. wrightii
Synonyms Carduus crassicaulis
Name authority (Greene) Jepson: Fl. W. Calif., 506. (1901)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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