Cirsium vulgare |
Cirsium kamtschaticum |
|
---|---|---|
bull or common or spear thistle, bull thistle, chardon vulgaire ou lancéolé, common thistle, gros chardon, piqueux, spear thistle |
Kamchatka thistle |
|
Habit | Biennials, 30–200(–300) cm; taproots. | Perennials, 25–200 cm; rhizomes stout. |
Stems | 1–many, erect or ascending, branches few–many, ascending, villous with septate trichomes. |
single, erect, ± glabrous to variably tomentose with coarse, jointed, multicellular trichomes and/or fine smooth trichomes; branches 0–few, ascending. |
Leaves | blades oblong-lanceolate to obovate, 15–40 × 6–15 cm, margins plane or revolute, coarsely 1–2-pinnatifid with rigidly divergent lobes, sometimes merely spinose-dentate, lobes triangular to lanceolate, entire to spiny-dentate, main spines 2–10 mm, abaxial faces gray-tomentose, villous with septate trichomes along veins, adaxial green, covered with short appressed bristlelike spines, sometimes tomentose when young; basal present or absent at flowering, petioles winged, bases tapered; principal cauline winged-petiolate, mid and distal becoming sessile, well distributed or not, progressively reduced distally, at least distal decurrent as long spiny wings; distal cauline often more deeply lobed than proximal, main lobes rigidly spiny, margins spinulose, otherwise entire. |
blades broadly elliptic to obovate, 15–40 × 7–15 cm, subentire to coarsely pinnatifid 1/2–2/3 length to midveins, lobes few, lanceolate to triangular-ovate, shallowly lobed or dentate, main spines bristlelike, fine, innocuous, 3–6 mm, abaxial glabrous to villous with septate trichomes or thinly tomentose with jointed trichomes, adaxial faces glabrous or loosely tomentose along midveins; basal usually absent at flowering, winged-petiolate, ciliate with fine, flexible spines to 8 mm; principal cauline well distributed, little reduced, bases broadly tapered to clasping, short-decurrent; distalmost moderately reduced. |
Peduncles | 1–6 cm. |
0–1 cm. |
Involucres | hemispheric to campanulate, 3–4 × 2–4 cm, loosely arachnoid-tomentose. |
hemispheric to broadly campanulate, 1.5–2 × 2–3.5 cm, ± densely arachnoid. |
Style | tips 3–4 mm. |
|
Corollas | purple (rarely white), 25–35 mm, tubes 18–25 mm, throats 5–6 mm, lobes 5–7 mm; style tips 3.5–6 mm. |
pink to purple, 16–17 mm, tubes 8–9 mm, throats 3–4 mm, lobes 4–5 mm. |
Phyllaries | in 10–12 series, strongly imbricate, linear-lanceolate (outer) to linear (inner), outer and middle appressed, (bases stramineous), margins entire, abaxial faces without glutinous ridge, apices radiating, greenish, spines 2–5 mm; apices of inner phyllaries flat, serrulate to minutely erose. |
in 5–7 series, subequal, green or tinged purple, linear or linear-lanceolate, abaxial faces without glutinous ridge, outer and middle erect or outer spreading, entire, apices long-acuminate, spines 0–2 mm; apices of inner phyllaries straight or flexuous, flat. |
Heads | few–many in corymbiform or paniculiform arrays. |
1–few, in spiciform or subcapitate arrays. |
Cypselae | light brown with darker streaks, 3–4.5 mm, apical collar not differentiated; pappi 20–30 mm. |
brown, 4 mm, apical collars not well differentiated; pappi 12–15 mm. |
2n | = 68. |
= 68 (Japan). |
Cirsium vulgare |
Cirsium kamtschaticum |
|
Phenology | Flowering mostly summer (Jun–Sep), year round in areas with mild climates. | Flowering summer (Jul–Sep). |
Habitat | Invasive weed of disturbed sites, pastures, meadows, forest openings, roadsides | Meadows and tundra |
Elevation | 0–2200 m (0–7200 ft) | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; SPM; Eurasia [Introduced in North America]
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AK; Asia (Japan, Siberia) |
Discussion | Native to Eurasia, Cirsium vulgare is the only thistle in North America with bristlelike spines borne on the adaxial leaf faces. These structures are variously described in the literature as trichomes (“spreading hirsute,” “scabrous-hispid,” “coarsely hispid,” “rigid, rather pungent setae,” “prickly-hairy”), prickles, or spines (“setose-spinulose,” “appressed and dense spines”). My examination of cleared leaves of C. vulgare indicated that these structures are not epidermal outgrowths (trichomes or prickles) but emerge from fine veinlets within the tissues of the leaf. As such, they are properly treated as spines. Bull thistle is a noxious weed that has invaded disturbed habitats across the continent. Distasteful to livestock, it can increase in heavily grazed pastures. It occurs in a wide variety of habitats. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Cirsium kamtschaticum grows in the western Aleutian Islands, eastern Siberia, Sahkalin, the Kurile Islands and northern Japan (Hokkaido). It is one of only two species of the genus that have native populations in the Old World and the flora area. Neither reaches the North American mainland. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 19, p. 109. | FNA vol. 19, p. 111. |
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Cardueae > Cirsium | Asteraceae > tribe Cardueae > Cirsium |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Carduus vulgaris, Carduus lanceolatus | |
Name authority | (Savi) Tenore: Fl. Napol. 5: 209. (1835) | Ledebour ex de Candolle: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 6: 644. (1838) |
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