Silver thistle | |
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Eucera cinnamomea male on a capitulum of Carduus argentatus | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Asterales |
Family: | Asteraceae |
Genus: | Carduus |
Species: | C. argentatus |
Binomial name | |
Carduus argentatus | |
Synonyms | |
Carduus acicularis Bertoloni |
Carduus argentatus, sometimes known as the silver thistle, is an annual herb in the family Asteraceae. As a member of the genus Carduus it is known as a plumeless thistle. [1] It is found throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East. Frequently growing in disturbed habitats, it is often found in sandy and stony desert wadis. It is found in the eastern deserts of Egypt, through the East Mediterranean region and into Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. [2] It can be found growing in open woodlands and shrublands, on steppes and semi-steppes as well as in extreme desert conditions. It grows among mountain vegetation on Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights. [3] In Crete it is found at altitudes of up to 1,400 metres (4,600 ft). [4]
The plant was originally described by Carl Linnaeus on page 280 of the Mantissa Plantarum Altera , October 1771. [5] [6] The genus name Carduus is from the Latin for "a kind of thistle" [7] or "thistlelike plant". [8] It is related to the medieval Latin word Cardonnacum ("a place of chardons or thistles"), which is the origin of Chardonnay, the name of the grape variety. [9] Argentatus is Latin for silver. [3]
The plant grows to a height of about 30 centimetres (12 in) and has erect stems with spiny wings. They may be simple or have many branches. The leaves are spiny with toothed or serrated margins, those at the base forming a rosette and the stem leaves being alternate. The flower stem is tomentose and the pink to lavender flowers are single and bloom in April and May. They have spiny bracts and ovate sepals which are mucronate but not spiny. They are followed by fruits known as cypselae which are ovoid and slightly flattened. The calyx persists as pappus or may fall off in rings. [3]
John Wilkes's Encyclopaedia Londinensis (volume III, 1810) makes note of the "remarkable" features of the plant including the leaves' spots of white (pictured), which it reports are found in three other species of "Egyptian thistle". [10]
Carduus nutans, with the common names musk thistle, nodding thistle, and nodding plumeless thistle, is a biennial plant in the daisy and sunflower family Asteraceae. It is native to regions of Europe and Asia.
Cirsium vulgare, the spear thistle, bull thistle, or common thistle, is a species of the Asteraceae genus Cirsium, native throughout most of Europe, Western Asia, and northwestern Africa. It is also naturalised in North America, Africa, and Australia and is an invasive weed in some areas. It is the national flower of Scotland.
Scolymus is a genus of annual, biennial or perennial, herbaceous plants that is assigned to the Daisy family, and can be found in Macaronesia, around the Mediterranean, and in the Middle East. All species are spiny, thistle-like in appearance, with flowerheads that consist of yellow ligulate florets, and canals that contain latex. It is known as سكوليمس (skwlyms) in Arab, scolyme in French, and is sometimes called golden thistle or oyster thistle in English.
Carduus is a genus of flowering plants in the aster family, Asteraceae, and the tribe Cynareae, one of two genera considered to be true thistles, the other being Cirsium. Plants of the genus are known commonly as plumeless thistles. They are native to Eurasia and Africa, and several are known elsewhere as introduced species. This genus is noted for its disproportionately high number of noxious weeds compared to other flowering plant genera.
Scolymus maculatus is a spiny annual plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Mediterranean region in southern Europe, southwest Asia, and northern Africa, and also the Canary Islands. It has pinnately incised prickly leaves and prickly wings along the stems, both with a white marginal vein. The yellow flowerheads stand solitary or with a few together at the tip to the stems, and subtended by more than five leaflike bracts. The plant is known as scolyme taché in French, cardogna macchiata in Italian, cardo borriquero in Spanish, and escólimo-malhado in Portuguese, חוח עקוד in Hebrew and سنارية حولية in Arabic. In English it is called spotted golden thistle or spotted oyster thistle.
Sonchus is a genus of flowering plants in the dandelion tribe within the sunflower family Asteraceae and are commonly known as sow thistles. Sowthistles are annual, biennial or perennial herbs, with or without rhizomes and a few are even woody.
Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the plant – on the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves. These prickles are an adaptation that protects the plant from being eaten by herbivores. Typically, an involucre with a clasping shape similar to a cup or urn subtends each of a thistle's flowerheads.
Carlina acaulis, the stemless carline thistle, dwarf carline thistle, or silver thistle, is a perennial dicotyledonous flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to alpine regions of central and southern Europe. The specific name acaulis and common names are descriptive of the manner in which its flower head rests directly upon a basal leaf rosette.
Cnicus benedictus, is a thistle-like plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Mediterranean region, from Portugal north to southern France and east to Iran. It is known in other parts of the world, including parts of North America, as an introduced species and often a noxious weed. It is the sole species in the monotypic genus Cnicus. Other species once included in the genus have largely been reclassified to Cirsium, Carduus, and Centaurea.
Carduus pycnocephalus, with common names including Italian thistle, Italian plumeless thistle, and Plymouth thistle, is a species of thistle. It is native to: the Mediterranean region in southern Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia; East Europe and the Caucasus; and the Indian Subcontinent.
Cirsium eriophorum, the woolly thistle, is a herbaceous biennial species of flowering plant in the genus Cirsium of the daisy family Asteraceae. It is widespread across much of Europe. It is a large biennial plant with sharp spines on the tips of the leaves, and long, woolly hairs on much of the foliage. The flower heads are large and nearly spherical, with spines on the outside and many purple disc florets but no ray florets.
Carduus acanthoides, known as the spiny plumeless thistle, welted thistle, or plumeless thistle, is a biennial plant species of thistle in the sunflower family (Asteraceae). The plant is native to Europe and Asia and introduced in many other areas, where it is sometimes considered an invasive species.
Carduus tenuiflorus, known variously as slender-flower thistle, sheep thistle, shore thistle, slender thistle, winged plumeless thistle, winged slender thistle and winged thistle, is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae. It is native to Europe and North Africa, and an introduced species elsewhere.
Cirsium occidentale, with the common name cobweb thistle or cobwebby thistle, is a North American species of thistle in the sunflower family.
Cirsium crassicaule is a species of thistle known by the common name slough thistle. It is endemic to the San Joaquin Valley of California, where it is known primarily from freshwater wetlands. It has been found in only a few locations in Kern, Kings, and San Joaquin Counties.
Cirsium mohavense is a species of thistle known by the common names virgin thistle and Mojave thistle. It is native to the southwestern United States, where it grows in moist areas in otherwise dry habitat, such as desert springs. It is most common in the Mojave Desert, found also in the southern Great Basin and other nearby regions of California, Nevada, western Arizona, and southwestern Utah.
Spinacia is a flowering plant genus in the subfamily Chenopodioideae of the family Amaranthaceae. The most common member is spinach.
Notobasis syriaca, the Syrian thistle, is a species in the thistle tribe within the Asteraceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region and the Middle East, from Madeira, the Canary Islands, Morocco and Portugal east to Egypt, Iran and Azerbaijan.
Galactites tomentosa, the purple milk thistle, is a biennial herbaceous plant belonging to the genus Galactites of the Asteraceae family.
Scolymus grandiflorus is a spiny annual or biennial plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Mediterranean region. With up to 75 cm high stems, it is the smallest of the species of Scolymus. Its stems are lined with uninterrupted spiny wings. It also has the largest flowerheads in the genus, of approximately 5 cm wide. It has yellow, sometimes yolk-yellow ligulate florets. Its vernacular name in Maltese is xewk isfar kbir, meaning "large yellow fin", cardogna maggiore in Italian, scoddi on Sicily, and scolyme à grandes fleurs in French.