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Cirsium eatonii var. peckii

Peck's thistle, Steens Mountain or ghost thistle, Steens Mountain thistle

Stems

erect or ascending, stout, 10–150 cm.

Leaf

faces glabrous or nearly so or abaxial ± villous with septate trichomes.

Involucres

2–4 cm, loosely to densely villous with septate trichomes and thinly arachnoid with non-septate trichomes.

Corollas

pink to purple, 21–25 mm, tubes 6.5–8 mm, throats 8–11.5 mm, lobes 5.5–7 mm.

Phyllaries

green;

outer with few or no lateral spines;

apical spines stout.

Heads

several–many, usually subsessile or short-pedunculate, crowded in erect, spiciform or racemiform arrays, less commonly openly branched.

Pappi

17–22 mm.

2n

= 34 (as C. peckii).

Cirsium eatonii var. peckii

Phenology Flowering summer (Jun–Aug).
Habitat Grasslands, juniper woodlands, grass-sagebrush steppes, subalpine slopes, roadsides
Elevation 1300–2900 m (4300–9500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
NV; OR
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Variety peckii occurs from Steens Mountain and the Pueblo Mountains of Harney County, Oregon, south to the Black Rock Range and Jackson Mountains of Humboldt County, Nevada. On the lower portion of its distribution along Steens Mountain Loop Road at an elevation of about 1900 m, var. peckii and Cirsium inamoenum grow together and freely hybridize, forming a complex hybrid swarm. Intermediates variably combine the features of the parent taxa, with the habit more openly branched than typical for C. eatonii var. peckii, variably arachnoid tomentose leaves, ± glandular phyllaries, and lavender to pale pink flowers. Variety peckii may range as far south as the West Humboldt Mountains. The type of Cirsium humboldtense Rydberg (Carduus nevadensis Greene) closely resembles some of the hybrids between C. inamoenum and C. eatonii var. peckii.

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

Source FNA vol. 19, p. 153.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Cardueae > Cirsium > Cirsium eatonii
Sibling taxa
C. eatonii var. clokeyi, C. eatonii var. eatonii, C. eatonii var. eriocephalum, C. eatonii var. hesperium, C. eatonii var. murdockii, C. eatonii var. viperinum
Synonyms C. peckii
Name authority (L. F. Henderson) D. J. Keil: Sida 21: 212. (2004)
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