Flora of North America species comparison

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Cirsium cymosum var. cymosum

Cirsium cymosum var. canovirens
Photo is of parent taxon

peregrine thistle
Photo is of parent taxon

gray-green thistle
Outer phyllaries

elongate, often nearly as long as inner; glutinous ridge narrow, weakly developed.

usually much shorter than inner; glutinous ridge prominent, well developed, appearing dark brown on dry specimens.
Larger

heads 20–35 mm diam.

heads 15–25 mm diam.
2n

= 30, 34.

= 34 (as C. canovirens).

Cirsium cymosum var. cymosum

Cirsium cymosum var. canovirens
Phenology Flowering spring–summer (Apr–Aug). Flowering spring–summer (Apr–Aug).
Habitat Grassy areas, sagebrush steppe, California woodlands, open coniferous or conifer-hardwood forests, roadsides Grasslands, sagebrush steppe, pinyon-juniper woodlands, dry coniferous forests, roadsides
Elevation 200–2000 m (700–6600 ft) 600–2600 m (2000–8500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV; OR
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; WY
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Variety cymosum ranges from the Siskiyou Range south through the California North Coast Range to Mount Diablo in the northern South Coast Range, and east into the southern Cascades and the northwestern Great Basin.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Variety canovirens occurs from the dry mountains and valleys of eastern Oregon and the rain shadow slopes of the northern Sierra Nevada eastward across the northern Great Basin to Idaho, southern Montana, and western Wyoming. D. J. Keil and C. E. Turner (1993) recognized a polymorphic Cirsium canovirens that included C. subniveum (here treated as C. inamoenum). My subsequent investigations indicate that the merger of those taxa was erroneous, based in part on mis-identified specimens.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 136. FNA vol. 19, p. 136.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Cardueae > Cirsium > Cirsium cymosum Asteraceae > tribe Cardueae > Cirsium > Cirsium cymosum
Sibling taxa
C. cymosum var. canovirens
C. cymosum var. cymosum
Synonyms Carduus canovirens, C. canovirens
Name authority unknown (Rydberg) D. J. Keil: Sida 21: 212. (2004)
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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