Cirsium pumilum |
Cirsium pumilum var. pumilum |
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pasture thistle |
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Habit | Biennials or monocarpic perennials, 25–100 cm; sometimes perennating by root sprouts. | Plants mostly 30–100 cm; branches 3–5+, long. | ||||
Roots | usually slender, not or rarely slightly tuberous-thickened. |
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Stems | erect, villous with septate trichomes and sometimes thinly arachnoid tomentose; branches 0–few, distal, ascending. |
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Leaves | blades oblong-elliptic, 5–30+ × 2–10 cm, ± undulate, shallowly to deeply pinnatifid, lobes ovate to broadly triangular, usually separated by broad sinuses, spinose-dentate or lobed, main spines 1.5–7 mm, slender to stout, abaxial faces villous with septate trichomes, at least along veins, sometimes thinly arachnoid, adaxial faces villous with septate trichomes and thinly arachnoid tomentose or subglabrous; basal often present at flowering, bases tapered; principal cauline sessile, moderately reduced distally, bases often auriculate-clasping; distal reduced, similar to proximal. |
usually lobed nearly to midveins, sinuses deep, U-shaped, main spines ± stout, 3–7 mm. |
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Peduncles | 0–15+ cm (above distal leaves), leafy-bracted. |
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Involucres | broadly cylindric to ovoid, 3.5–5 cm, 2.5–3 cm diam. (appearing much wider and hemispheric to campanulate in pressed specimens), loosely arachnoid on phyllary margins or glabrate. |
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Corollas | pink to purple (white), 40–60 mm, tubes 20–35 mm, throats 11–15 mm, lobes 7–10 mm; style tips 3–7 mm. |
usually 40–45 mm. |
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Phyllaries | in 8–10 series, imbricate, ovate or lanceolate (outer) to lance-linear (inner), abaxial faces with ± prominent glutinous ridge, outer and middle appressed, apices ascending to spreading, spines 1.5–6 mm; apices of middle and inner narrowed and scabrid-denticulate, innermost spineless, tapered and entire or with expanded, erose-denticulate, flexuous tips. |
outer 3–5 mm wide at base, spines stout, 3–6 mm. |
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Heads | 1–few, borne singly at tips of main stem and branches, often closely subtended by 1–several bracts. |
5.5–6 cm. |
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Cypselae | stramineous to brown, 3.5–5 mm, apical collars yellow or colored like body; pappi 35–45 mm. |
usually 3.5–4 mm. |
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2n | = 30. |
= 30. |
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Cirsium pumilum |
Cirsium pumilum var. pumilum |
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Phenology | Flowering summer (Jun–Sep). | |||||
Habitat | Fields, pastures, open woods, roadsides | |||||
Elevation | 0–600 m (0–2000 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
CT; DE; IA; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; SC; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON; United States
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CT; DE; MA; MD; ME; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; SC; VA; VT; WV |
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Flowers of Cirsium pumilum are reportedly sweetly scented. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Variety pumilum grows on the Atlantic coastal plain from Maine to South Carolina and ranges inland to Pennsylvania and Ohio. It is known to hybridize with Cirsium horridulum var. horridulum (R. J. Moore and C. Frankton 1966). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 19, p. 116. | FNA vol. 19, p. 116. | ||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Cardueae > Cirsium | Asteraceae > tribe Cardueae > Cirsium > Cirsium pumilum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Carduus pumilus | C. odoratum | ||||
Name authority | (Nuttall) Sprengel: Syst. Veg. 3: 375. (1826) | unknown | ||||
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