Cirsium is a genus of perennial and biennial flowering plants in the Asteraceae, one of several genera known commonly as thistles. They are more precisely known as plume thistles. These differ from other thistle genera in having feathered hairs to their achenes. The other genera have a pappus of simple unbranched hairs.
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.
Cirsium arvense is a perennial species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native throughout Europe and northern Asia, and widely introduced elsewhere. The standard English name in its native area is creeping thistle.
Cirsium arizonicum, the Arizona thistle, is a North American species of thistle in the sunflower family, native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. It has been found in Arizona, southeastern California, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Sonora, and northwestern Chihuahua.
Cirsium neomexicanum is a North American species of thistle known by the common names New Mexico thistle, powderpuff thistle, lavender thistle, foss thistle and desert thistle.
Cirsium ochrocentrum is a species of thistle known by the common name yellowspine thistle. It is native to the Great Plains of the Central United States and to the desert regions of the western United States and northern Mexico. Its range extends from eastern Oregon east to the Black Hills of South Dakota, south as far as the Mexican State of Durango.
Cirsium scariosum is a species of thistle known by the common names meadow thistle, elk thistle and dwarf thistle. It is native to much of western North America from Alberta and British Columbia south to Baja California. There are also isolated populations on the Canadian Atlantic Coast, on the Mingan Archipelago in Québec.
Cirsium undulatum is a species of thistle known by the common names wavyleaf thistle and gray thistle. It is native to much of central and western North America from British Columbia east to Manitoba and south as far as the State of Durango in Mexico. It has also been found outside of its native range as an introduced species.
Cirsium lecontei, often called the Le Conte's thistle, is a North American plant species native to the southeastern United States. It is a perennial, or sometimes biennial, species of the thistle tribe within the sunflower family. It grows along the coastal plain from Louisiana to North Carolina.
Cirsium ownbeyi is a rare North American species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name Ownbey's thistle. It is native to the United States, where it has a narrow distribution in northeast Utah, southwest Wyoming, and northwest Colorado. There are almost 30 known populations, with a total of over 25,000 individuals.
Cirsium eatonii, commonly known as Eaton's thistle or mountaintop thistle, is a North American species of flowering plants in the aster family.
Dasylirion durangense, common name "sotol," is a perennial plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to Durango, Chihuahua and Sonora, Mexico. It is closely related to D. wheeleri S. Wats. and considered a variety of that species by some authors. The plant has a large basal rosette of long stiff leaves over 1 m in length, bearing sharp, curved spines along the margins. The flowering stalk can be up to 3 m tall, bearing small wind-pollinated flowers.
Cirsium wrightii, or Wright's marsh thistle, is an endangered species of North American plants in the sunflower family. It is a monocarpic perennial sometimes reaching as much as 300 cm in height.
Cirsium carolinianum is a North American species of plants in the thistle tribe within the sunflower family. Common name is Carolina thistle or purple thistle or soft thistle or smallhead thistle. The species is native to the central and southern United States, from eastern Texas east to Virginia and the Carolinas, north to the Ohio Valley.
Cirsium clavatum, the Fish Lake thistle, is a North American species of plants in the thistle tribe within the sunflower family. The species is native to the western United States, the States of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Cirsium grahamii, called Graham’s thistle, is a North American species of plants in the thistle tribe within the sunflower family. The species is native to Sonora, Chihuahua, Durango, Nuevo León, New Mexico, and Arizona.
Cirsium horridulum, called bristly thistle, horrid thistle, yellow thistle or bull thistle, is a North American species of plants in the thistle tribe within the sunflower family. It is an annual or biennial. The species is native to the eastern and southern United States from New England to Florida, Texas, and Oklahoma as well as to Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and the Bahamas.
Cirsium texanum is a North American species of plants in the thistle tribe within the sunflower family. Common names include Texas thistle, Texas purple thistle or southern thistle. The species is native to northern Mexico and the southern Great Plains of the south-central United States.
Cirsium wheeleri is a North American species of plants in the thistle tribe within the sunflower family. Common names include Wheeler’s thistle. It is native to northern Mexico and the southwestern United States.
Cirsium mexicanum is a Mesoamerican and Caribbean species of plants in the thistle tribe within the sunflower family. Common name is Mexican thistle. It is widespread across Mexico, Central America and the West Indies.
