Cirsium horridulum

Last updated

Cirsium horridulum
Bristle Thistle.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Cirsium
Species:
C. horridulum
Binomial name
Cirsium horridulum
Synonyms [1]
Synonymy
  • Carduus horridulusPers.
  • Carduus pinetorumSmall
  • Carduus spinosissimusWalter
  • Carduus vittatusSmall, syn of var. vittatum
  • Cirsium chrismarii(Klatt) Petr.
  • Cirsium pinetorum(Small) Small 1913 not Greenm. 1905
  • Cirsium vittatum(Small) Small, syn of var. vittatum
  • Cnicus chrismariiKlatt
  • Cnicus horridulus(Michx.) Pursh
  • Cirsium megacanthumNutt., syn of var. megacanthum
  • Carduus smallii(Britton) H.E.Ahles, syn of var. vittatum
  • Cirsium smalliiBritton, syn of var. vittatum

Cirsium horridulum, called bristly thistle, purple thistle, or yellow thistle is a North American species of plants in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae. It is an annual or biennial. [2] 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. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Contents

Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859) described var. megacanthum as "one of the most terribly armed plants in the genus." [8] [9]

Cirsium horridulum is a biennial herb up to 250 centimetres (100 in) tall, with a large taproot and fleshy side roots that sometimes sprout new shoots. Leaves are up to 40 centimetres (16 in) long with thick, sharp spines along the edges. There are usually several flower heads, also with sharp spines, Luma apiculata each head with disc florets but no ray florets. Flower color varies from one plant to the next: white, yellow, pink, red or purple. [10]

Varieties [1] [10]

Conservation status in the United States

It is endangered in Connecticut, [11] New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. It is listed as threatened in Rhode Island. [12]

As a noxious weed

The Cirsium genus is listed as a noxious weed in Arkansas and Iowa. [13]

Native American ethnobotany

The Houma people make an infusion of the leaves and root of the plant in whiskey. They use it as both as an astringent, and drink it to clear phlegm from lungs and throat. They also eat the tender, white hearts of the plant raw. [14] The Seminole use the spines of the plant as darts for their blowguns. [15]

Ecology

It is a larval host to the little metalmark and the painted lady butterflies. [16] Its flowers are popular for their nectar and pollen with butterflies and bumble bees. [16]

Related Research Articles

<i>Cirsium</i> Genus of flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae

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.

<i>Cirsium vulgare</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

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.

<i>Cirsium edule</i> Species of thistle

Cirsium edule, the edible thistle or Indian thistle, is a species of thistle in the genus Cirsium, native to western North America from southeastern Alaska south through British Columbia to Washington and Oregon, and locally inland to Idaho. It is a larval host to the mylitta crescent and the painted lady.

<i>Sonchus arvensis</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

Sonchus arvensis, the field milk thistle, field sowthistle, perennial sow-thistle, corn sow thistle, dindle, gutweed, swine thistle, or tree sow thistle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. S. arvensis often occurs in annual crop fields and may cause substantial yield losses.

<i>Cirsium eriophorum</i> Species of plant

Cirsium eriophorum, the woolly thistle, is a herbaceous biennial species of flowering plant in the genus Cirsium of the 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.

<i>Cirsium arizonicum</i> Species of thistle

Cirsium arizonicum, the Arizona thistle, is a North American species of thistle in the family Asteraceae, 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.

<i>Acourtia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Acourtia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae and was first described as a genus in 1830. It includes desertpeonies, such as Acourtia nana and Acourtia runcinata.

<i>Cirsium occidentale</i> Species of thistle

Cirsium occidentale, with the common name cobweb thistle or cobwebby thistle, is a North American species of thistle in the family Asteraceae.

<i>Cirsium discolor</i> Species of thistle

Cirsium discolor, the field thistle, is a North American species of plants in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae. 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.

<i>Cirsium ochrocentrum</i> Species of 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.

<i>Cirsium scariosum</i> Species of thistle

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, where it is called the Mingan thistle.

<i>Synedrella</i> Genus of plants

Synedrella is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.

<i>Cirsium muticum</i> Species of thistle

Cirsium muticum, also known as swamp thistle, marsh thistle, dunce-nettle, or horsetops, is a North American species of plants in the family Asteraceae, native to central and eastern Canada and the central and eastern United States.

<i>Cirsium eatonii</i> Species of thistle

Cirsium eatonii, commonly known as Eaton's thistle or mountaintop thistle, is a North American species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.

<i>Cirsium clavatum</i> Species of thistle

Cirsium clavatum, the Fish Lake thistle or fringed thistle, is a North American species of plants in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae. The species is native to the western United States, the States of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.

<i>Cirsium helenioides</i> Species of thistle

Cirsium helenioides, the melancholy thistle, is an Asian and Arctic species of plants in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae. The species is native to Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Xinjiang, Kazakhstan.

Cirsium kamtschaticum, the Kamchatka thistle, is an Alaskan and East Asian species of plants in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae. 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 nuttallii, called Nuttall's thistle, is a North American species of plants in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae. The species is native to the coastal plain of the southeastern and south-central United States, from eastern Texas to southeastern Virginia.

Cirsium pulcherrimum, the Wyoming thistle , is a North American species of plants in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae. The species is native to the western United States, primarily in the state of Wyoming but also in surrounding areas.

Cirsium pumilum, the pasture thistle, is a North American species of plants in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae. The species is native to the northeastern and north-central United States as well as to the Canadian Province of Ontario.

References

  1. 1 2 The Plant List, Cirsium horridulum Michx.
  2. "Plants Profile for Cirsium horridulum (yellow thistle)". plants.usda.gov. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  3. Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
  4. Davidse, G., M. Sousa-Peña, S. Knapp & F. Chiang Cabrera. 2015. Asteraceae. 5(2): ined. In G. Davidse, M. Sousa Sánchez, S. Knapp & F. Chiang Cabrera (eds.) Flora Mesoamericana Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F.
  5. Carnevali, G., J. L. Tapia-Muñoz, R. Duno de Stefano & I. M. Ramírez Morillo. 2010. Flora Ilustrada de la Peninsula Yucatán: Listado Florístico 1–326
  6. Nelson, C. H. 2008. Cat. Pl. Vasc. Honduras 1–1576. Secretaria de Recursos Naturales y Ambiente, Tegucigalpa
  7. Nash, D. L. 1976. Tribe IX, Cynareae. En: Nash, D.L. & Williams, L.O. (eds), Flora of Guatemala - Part XII. Fieldiana, Bot. 24(12): 423–428, 590
  8. Nuttall quoted in Flora of North America, Bigspine thistle, Cirsium horridulum Michaux var. megacanthum (Nuttall) D. J. Keil
  9. Nuttall, Thomas 1841. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, new series 7: 421 as Cirsium megacanthum
  10. 1 2 Flora of North America, Bristly or horrid or yellow or bull thistle, Cirsium horridulum Michaux, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 90. 1803.
  11. "Connecticut's Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Species 2015". State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Bureau of Natural Resources. Retrieved 12 January 2018. (Note: This list is newer than the one used by plants.usda.gov and is more up-to-date.)
  12. "Plants Profile for Cirsium horridulum (yellow thistle)". plants.usda.gov. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  13. "Plants Profile for Cirsium horridulum (yellow thistle)". plants.usda.gov. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  14. Speck, Frank G., 1941, "A List of Plant Curatives Obtained From the Houma Indians of Louisiana", Primitive Man 14:49-75, page 57
  15. Sturtevant, William, 1954, The Mikasuki Seminole: Medical Beliefs and Practices, Yale University, PhD Thesis, page 507
  16. 1 2 The Xerces Society (2016), Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects, Timber Press.