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 western Asia, northern Africa and widely introduced elsewhere. The standard English name in its native area is creeping thistle. It is also commonly known as Canada thistle and field thistle.
Cirsium eriophorum, the woolly thistle, is a herbaceous biennial species of the genus Cirsium. It is widespread across much of Europe. It is a large, biennial herb with sharp spines on the tips of the leaves, and long, woolly hairs on much of the herbage. Flower heads are large and nearly spherical, with spines on the outside and many purple disc florets but no ray florets.
Cirsium quercetorum is a species of thistle endemic to coastal California, its common names include brownie thistle and Alameda thistle.
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 occidentale, with the common name cobweb thistle or cobwebby thistle, is a North American species of thistle in the sunflower family.
Cirsium discolor, the field thistle, is a North American species of plants in the thistle tribe, within the sunflower family. It is native to thirty-three states in the United States as well four Canadian provinces. It occurs across much of eastern and central Canada as well as eastern and central United States. It has been found from New Brunswick west to Saskatchewan and south as far as Texas and Georgia.
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 heterophyllum, the melancholy thistle, is an erect spineless herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the sunflower family Asteraceae. It is native to Europe and western Asia, where it grows in upland meadows, grasslands, road verges and open woodland.
Cirsium altissimum is a North American species of plants in the thistle tribe within the sunflower family. Common name is tall thistle or roadside thistle. The species is native to the eastern and Central United States, with a range extending from Massachusetts west to North Dakota and south to Texas and the Florida Panhandle.
Cirsium brevifolium is a North American species of plants in the thistle tribe within the sunflower family. Common name is Palouse thistle. The species is native to the northwestern United States, in the States of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The plant is particularly common in the Palouse Prairie near Pullman, Washington.
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 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 kamtschaticum, the Kamchatka thistle, is an Alaskan and East Asian species of plants in the thistle tribe within the sunflower family. The species is found in eastern Russia, and on certain islands of the North Pacific: the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and Hokkaido Island in northern Japan.
Cirsium repandum is a North American species of plants in the thistle tribe within the sunflower family. Common names include sand-hill thistle and coastal-plain thistle. The species is native to the south-eastern United States, the coastal plain in Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas.
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.
