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Cirsium

Cirsium
Family: Asteraceae
Cirsium image
Paul Rothrock
  • FNA
  • Gleason & Cronquist
  • Resources
David J. Keil in Flora of North America (vol. 19, 20 and 21)
Annuals, biennials, or perennials, 5-400 cm, spiny. Stems (1-several) erect, branched or simple, sometimes narrowly spiny-winged. Leaves basal and cauline; finely bristly-dentate to coarsely dentate or 1-3 times pinnately lobed, teeth and lobes bristly-tipped, faces green and glabrous or densely gray-canescent, usually eglandular. Heads discoid, borne singly, terminal and in distal axils, or in racemiform, spiciform, subcapitate, paniculiform, or corymbiform arrays. ( Peduncles with ± reduced leaflike bracts.) Involucres cylindric to ovoid or spheric, (1-6 ×)1-8 cm. Phyllaries many in 5-20 series, subequal or weakly to strongly, outer and middle with bases appressed and apices spreading to erect, usually spine-tipped, innermost usually with erect, flat, often twisted, entire or dentate, usually spineless apices (distal portion of phyllary midveins in many species with elongate, glutinous resin gland, usually milky in fresh material but dark brown to black when dry). Receptacles flat to convex, epaleate, covered with tawny to white bristles or setiform scales. Florets 25-200+; corollas white to pink, red, yellow or purple, ± bilateral, tubes long, slender, distally bent, throats short, abruptly expanded. cylindric, lobes linear; (filaments distinct) anther bases sharply short-tailed, apical appendages linear-oblong; style tips elongate (as measured in descriptions including the slightly swollen nodes, long cylindric fused portions of style branches and very short distinct portions). Cypselae ovoid, ± compressed, with apical rims, smooth, not ribbed, glabrous, basal attachment scars slightly angled; pappi persistent or falling in rings, in 3-5 series of many flattened, plumose bristles or plumose, setiform scales (longer bristles shorter than corollas except in C. foliosum and C. arvense). x = 17.

Only three genera in Cynareae are represented by native species in the New World, and of these Cirsium is by far the most widely distributed and diverse. Native species of Cirsium range from sea level to alpine and from boreal regions of Canada to the tropics of Central America. Members of the genus occur in a myriad of habitats including swamps, meadows, forests, prairies, sand dunes, and deserts.
Vascular plants of NE US and adjacent Canada
Heads discoid, the fls all tubular and perfect, or the plants sometimes dioecious by abortion; invol bracts imbricate, usually some or all of them spine- tipped, and in many spp. with a thickened, glutinous, dorsal ridge; receptacle flat to subconic, densely bristly; cors purple to yellowish or white, with slender tube and long, narrow lobes; filaments usually papillose-hairy; anthers with a firm, narrow, apical appendage, evidently tailed at the base; style with a thickened, hairy ring and an abrupt change of texture below the ±connate, papillate branches; achenes basifixed or nearly so, glabrous, firm, thick-compressed, often curved, nerveless, commonly with a cartilaginous, pale yellow collar; pappus of numerous plumose bristles, deciduous in a ring; spiny herbs with alternate, toothed to more often pinnatifid lvs and medium- sized to large heads. 200, N. Hemisphere. (Spp. all sometimes included in Carduus)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Species within checklist: WILD3830 - 1 || << 51 - 100 taxa >>
Cirsium consociatum
Media resource of Cirsium consociatum
Map not
Available
Cirsium conspicuum
Media resource of Cirsium conspicuum
Map not
Available
Cirsium coulteri
Media resource of Cirsium coulteri
Map not
Available
Cirsium crassicaule
Media resource of Cirsium crassicaule
Map not
Available
Cirsium creticum
Media
not available
Map not
Available
Cirsium culebraense
Media resource of Cirsium culebraense
Map not
Available
Cirsium cymosum
Media resource of Cirsium cymosum
Map not
Available
Cirsium davisii
Media resource of Cirsium davisii
Map not
Available
Cirsium dender
Media
not available
Map not
Available
Cirsium discolor
Media resource of Cirsium discolor
Map not
Available
Cirsium dissectum
Media resource of Cirsium dissectum
Map not
Available
Cirsium douglasii
Media resource of Cirsium douglasii
Map not
Available
Cirsium drummondii
Media resource of Cirsium drummondii
Map not
Available
Cirsium ducellieri
Media
not available
Map not
Available
Cirsium durangense
Media resource of Cirsium durangense
Map not
Available
Cirsium dyris
Media
not available
Map not
Available
Cirsium eatonii
Media resource of Cirsium eatonii
Map not
Available
Cirsium echinatum
Media
not available
Map not
Available
Cirsium echinus
Media resource of Cirsium echinus
Map not
Available
Cirsium edule
Media resource of Cirsium edule
Map not
Available
Cirsium ehrenbergii
Media resource of Cirsium ehrenbergii
Map not
Available
Cirsium engelmannii
Media resource of Cirsium engelmannii
Map not
Available
Cirsium englerianum
Media
not available
Map not
Available
Cirsium eriophoroides
Media resource of Cirsium eriophoroides
Map not
Available
Cirsium eriophorum
Media resource of Cirsium eriophorum
Map not
Available
Cirsium erisithales
Media resource of Cirsium erisithales
Map not
Available
Cirsium esculentum
Media resource of Cirsium esculentum
Map not
Available
Cirsium excelsius
Media resource of Cirsium excelsius
Map not
Available
Cirsium falconeri
Media
not available
Map not
Available
Cirsium fargesii
Media
not available
Map not
Available
Cirsium faucium
Media resource of Cirsium faucium
Map not
Available
Cirsium ferox
Media resource of Cirsium ferox
Map not
Available
Cirsium filipendulum
Media resource of Cirsium filipendulum
Map not
Available
Cirsium flaccidum
Media resource of Cirsium flaccidum
Map not
Available
Cirsium flodmanii
Media resource of Cirsium flodmanii
Map not
Available
Cirsium foliosum
Media resource of Cirsium foliosum
Map not
Available
Cirsium fontinale
Media resource of Cirsium fontinale
Map not
Available
Cirsium funkiae
Media resource of Cirsium funkiae
Map not
Available
Cirsium giganteum
Media
not available
Map not
Available
Cirsium gilense
Media resource of Cirsium gilense
Map not
Available
Cirsium glabrum
Media resource of Cirsium glabrum
Map not
Available
Cirsium grahami
Media resource of Cirsium grahami
Map not
Available
Cirsium grahamii
Media resource of Cirsium grahamii
Map not
Available
Cirsium grayanum
Media
not available
Map not
Available
Cirsium greenei
Media resource of Cirsium greenei
Map not
Available
Cirsium griseum
Media resource of Cirsium griseum
Map not
Available
Cirsium hallii
Media resource of Cirsium hallii
Map not
Available
Cirsium handelii
Media resource of Cirsium handelii
Map not
Available
Cirsium harrisonii
Media resource of Cirsium harrisonii
Map not
Available
Cirsium helenioides
Media resource of Cirsium helenioides
Map not
Available
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