Cirsium quercetorum |
Cirsium flodmanii |
|
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Alameda County thistle, brownie or Alameda County thistle, brownie thistle |
chardon de Flodman, Flodman's thistle, prairie thistle |
|
Habit | Perennials, subacaulescent and forming compact, rounded mounds, 5–20 cm, or ± erect and to 70(–90) cm; runner roots producing adventitious buds. | Perennials 30–140 cm; horizontal runner roots that produce root sprouts. |
Stems | 1–10+, erect or ascending, glabrous to thinly gray-tomentose, sometimes villous with septate trichomes; branches 0 or few, ascending. |
1–several, erect, gray- or white-tomentose; branches 0–few, ascending. |
Leaves | blades elliptic to obovate, 5–20 × 3–7 cm, strongly undulate, shallowly to deeply pinnatifid with 3–8 pairs of lobes, lobes linear-lanceolate to broadly triangular, (often longer than 2 cm), closely spaced, spreading, spinose-dentate or lobed, main spines slender to stout, 2–15 mm, abaxial faces thinly to densely tomentose, ± villous with septate trichomes along veins, glabrescent or trichomes persistent, adaxial thinly arachnoid-tomentose and soon glabrescent; basal usually present at flowering, petiolate; principal cauline petiolate, progressively reduced distally, bases sometimes decurrent as spiny wings to 1 cm; distal reduced, similar to proximal. |
blades oblong-oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 4–40 × 1–10 cm, bases usually not decurrent, finely spiny-toothed and undivided to coarsely toothed or deeply pinnatifid, lobes broadly triangular to linear-lanceolate, often revolute-margined, main spines 1–7 mm, abaxial faces white-tomentose, adaxial faces green, thinly tomentose, ± glabrate; basal usually absent or withered at flowering, winged petiolate; principal cauline proximally winged-petiolate, distally sessile, well distributed, gradually reduced, bases usually not decurrent; distal cauline well developed. |
Peduncles | 0–10 cm, leafy-bracted. |
0–5 cm (elevated above distal leaves). |
Involucres | ovoid to hemispheric or broadly campanulate, 2.5–5 (in first-formed heads, often smaller in later heads) × 2.5–6 cm, loosely arachnoid on phyllary margins or glabrate. |
ovoid to broadly campanulate, 2–3.5 × 2.5–3.5 cm, thinly arachnoid. |
Corollas | white or pale lavender to purple, 25–35 mm, tubes 10–20 mm, throats 7–10 mm, lobes 5–8 mm; style tips 2.5–4.5 mm. |
purple (white), 23–36 mm, tubes 12–15 mm, throats 6–8.5 mm, lobes 5–9 mm; style tips 4–7 mm. |
Phyllaries | in 5–10 series, imbricate, ovate or lanceolate (outer) to linear-lanceolate (inner), margins of outer entire, abaxial faces without glutinous ridge; outer and mid appressed, spines erect or ascending, (0–)1–2(–10) mm; apices of mid and inner narrowed and scabrido-denticulate or with expanded, spinuloso-serrate or -dentate tips, spineless or spine-tipped. |
in 7–12 series, strongly imbricate, greenish with subapical darker central zone, ovate or lanceolate (outer) to linear (inner), abaxial faces with prominent glutinous ridge; outer and middle entire, bodies appressed, entire, acute, spines abruptly spreading, slender, 2–4 mm; apices of inner spreading, flexuous, narrow, flattened, finely serrulate, ± scabrous. |
Heads | 1–few, erect, ± crowded, often closely subtended by distalmost leaves. |
erect, borne singly and terminal on main stem and branches, or few in corymbiform arrays from distal axils (not subtended by ring of spiny-margined bracts). |
Cypselae | brown, 5–6.5 mm, apical collars colored like body; pappi 20–40 mm. |
light brown, 3–5 mm, apical collars stramineous, 0.5–1 mm; pappi (white or tawny) 20–30 mm. |
2n | = 32. |
= 22, 24. |
Cirsium quercetorum |
Cirsium flodmanii |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring–summer (Apr–Aug). | Flowering summer (Jun–Sep). |
Habitat | Usually dry sites, coastal bluffs, grasslands, oak woodlands, coastal scrub | Tallgrass, mixedgrass, shortgrass prairies, meadows, pastures, often in damp soil |
Elevation | 0–400 m (0–1300 ft) | 100–2400 m (300–7900 ft) |
Distribution |
CA
|
CO; IA; IL; KS; MI; MN; MT; ND; NE; SD; WI; WY; AB; MB; ON; QC; SK
|
Discussion | Cirsium quercetorum occurs in the north and south Coast ranges of California from Mendocino to San Luis Obispo counties. It overlaps in range and habitat with several other thistle species and has been reported to hybridize with C. andrewsii, C. douglasii, C. occidentale, C. remotifolium var. odontolepis, and C. fontinale var. fontinale (F. Petrak 1917; J. T. Howell 1960b). Considerable variation occurs within the range of C. quercetorum, and two of the variants have been given taxonomic recognition as vars. walkerianum and xerolepis. Additional study over the range of the species is needed to determine whether these or other variants should be recognized formally. Cirsium quercetorum appears to be related to the polymorphic C. scariosum complex. The perennial habit with runner roots of C. quercetorum consistently distinguishes it from the monocarpic C. scariosum. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Cirsium flodmanii ranges from Saskatchewan and Alberta south through the northern Great Plains and intermountain valleys of Montana and Wyoming to northeastern Colorado and east through the prairies to Minnesota and Iowa, and in widely scattered locations eastward to northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, southern Ontario, and southern Quebec. It is known to hybridize with C. muticum and C. undulatum. Hybrids between C. flodmanii and C. undulatum are highly sterile with numerous meiotic irregularities (S. Dabydeen 1987). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 19, p. 160. | FNA vol. 19, p. 120. |
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Cardueae > Cirsium | Asteraceae > tribe Cardueae > Cirsium |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Cnicus quercetorum, C. quercetorum var. walkerianum, C. quercetorum var. xerolepis, C. walkerianum | Carduus flodmanii, C. oblanceolatum |
Name authority | (A. Gray) Jepson: Fl. W. Calif., 507. (1901) | (Rydberg) Arthur: Torreya 12: 34. (1912) |
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