Cirsium palustre

Last updated

Cirsium palustre
Cirsium palustre inflorescence - Niitvalja.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Cirsium
Species:
C. palustre
Binomial name
Cirsium palustre
(L.) Scop.
Synonyms [1]
Synonymy
  • Carduus chailletiGodr.
  • Carduus laciniatusLam.
  • Carduus palustrisL.
  • Cirsium chailletiiGaudin
  • Cirsium forsteriLoudon
  • Cirsium horridum(Posp.) Trotter
  • Cirsium kochianumLoehr
  • Cirsium laciniatumNyman
  • Cirsium lacteumSchleich. ex W.Koch
  • Cirsium palatinumSch.Bip. ex Nyman
  • Cirsium parviflorumLange ex Nyman
  • Cirsium pseudo-palustreSchur
  • Cirsium semidecurrensRicht.
  • Cnicus forsteriSm.
  • Cnicus lacteusSchleich.
  • Cnicus palustris(L.) Willd.
  • Cynara palustrisStokes

Cirsium palustre, the marsh thistle [2] or European swamp thistle, is a herbaceous biennial (or often perennial) flowering plant in the daisy family, Asteraceae. [3] [4]

Contents

Cirsium palustre is a tall thistle which reaches up to 2 metres (7 ft) in height. The strong stems have few branches and are covered in small spines. In its first year the plant grows as a dense rosette, at first with narrow, entire leaves with spiny, dark purple edges; later, larger leaves are lobed. In the subsequent years the plant grows a tall, straight stem, the tip of which branches repeatedly, bearing a candelabra of dark purple flowers, 10–20 millimetres (0.4–0.8 in) with purple-tipped bracts. In the northern hemisphere these are produced from June to September. The flowers are occasionally white, in which case the purple edges to the leaves are absent. [5]

The plant provides a great deal of nectar for pollinators. It was rated first out of the top 10 for most nectar production (nectar per unit cover per year) in a UK plants survey conducted by the AgriLand project which is supported by the UK Insect Pollinators Initiative. [6]

It is native to Europe where it is particularly common on damp ground such as marshes, wet fields, moorland and beside streams. In Canada and the northern United States, it is an introduced species that has become invasive. It grows in dense thickets that can crowd out slower growing native plants. [7] [5] [8]

Ecology

Cirsium palustre is broadly distributed throughout much of Europe and eastward to central Asia. This thistle's occurrence is linked to the spread of human agriculture from the mid-Holocene era or before. [9] It is a constant plant of several fen-meadow plant associations, including the Juncus subnodulosus-Cirsium palustre fen-meadow. [9] The flowers are visited by a wide variety of insects, featuring a generalised pollination syndrome. [10]

Related Research Articles

<i>Filipendula ulmaria</i> Species of plant

Filipendula ulmaria, commonly known as meadowsweet or mead wort, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Rosaceae that grows in damp meadows. It is native throughout most of Europe and Western Asia. It has been introduced and naturalised in North America.

<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 oleraceum</i> Species of thistle

Cirsium oleraceum, the cabbage thistle or Siberian thistle, is a species of thistle in the genus Cirsium within the sunflower family, native to central and eastern Europe and Asia, where it grows in wet lowland soils.

<i>Mentha aquatica</i> Species of flowering plant

Mentha aquatica is a perennial flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. It grows in moist places and is native to much of Europe, northwest Africa and southwest Asia.

<i>Lotus pedunculatus</i> Species of legume

Lotus pedunculatus, the big trefoil, greater bird's-foot-trefoil or marsh bird's-foot trefoil, is a member of the pea family (Fabaceae).

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

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.

<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>Neotinea ustulata</i> Species of orchid

Neotinea ustulata, the burnt orchid or burnt-tip orchid, is a European terrestrial orchid native to mountains in central and southern Europe, growing at up to 2,400 m (7,900 ft) elevation. The plant is considered Endangered in Great Britain and Least Concern internationally based on IUCN Red List criteria. The burnt-tip orchid was voted the county flower of Wiltshire in 2002 following a poll by the wild flora conservation charity Plantlife.

<i>Equisetum palustre</i> Species of vascular plant in the horsetail family Equisetaceae

Equisetum palustre, the marsh horsetail, is a plant species belonging to the division of horsetails (Equisetopsida). It is widespread in cooler regions of North America and Eurasia.

<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 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.

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

Cirsium spinosissimum, common name spiniest thistle, is a European species of thistle which grows in dry rocky areas. It is found in France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and the Balkans.

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

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.

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

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.

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

Cirsium dissectum, also known as meadow thistle, is an erect perennial herb. It is found in England, Wales, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Norway, etc. It is found in fens and less acidic peat bogs i.e. it prefers damp boggy areas.

<i>Carex disticha</i> Species of grass-like plant

Carex disticha is a Eurasian species of sedge known as the brown sedge or, in North America, tworank sedge.

<i>Carex acutiformis</i> Species of grass-like plant

Carex acutiformis, the lesser pond-sedge, is a species of sedge.

<i>Thalictrum alpinum</i> Species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae

Thalictrum alpinum is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family known by the common names alpine meadow-rue and arctic meadow-rue. It is native to Arctic and alpine regions of North America and Eurasia, including Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland, and it occurs in cold, wet, boggy habitats in high mountains farther south.

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

Cirsium erisithales, the yellow thistle or yellow melancholy thistle, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the thistle tribe within the sunflower family.

<i>Pedicularis palustris</i> Species of flowering plant

Pedicularis palustris, commonly known as marsh lousewort, is a plant species in the family Orobanchaceae. It is native to central and northern Europe and Asia where it grows in wetlands and boggy habitats. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of least concern.

References

  1. The Plant List, Cirsium palustre (L.) Coss. ex Scop.
  2. BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  3. J. S. Rodwell. 1998. British Plant Communities, p. 227
  4. Altervista Flora Italiana, Cardo di palude, Sumpf-Kratzdistel, kärrtistel, Cirsium palustre (L.) Scop. includes photos and European distribution map
  5. 1 2 Flora of North America, European swamp or marsh thistle, cirse ou chardon des marais, Cirsium palustre (Linnaeus) Scopoli
  6. "Which flowers are the best source of nectar?". Conservation Grade. 2014-10-15. Archived from the original on 2019-12-14. Retrieved 2017-10-18.
  7. "Marsh Plume Thistle, Aliens Among Us". Archived from the original on 2013-12-13. Retrieved 2013-12-17.
  8. Biota of North America Program 22014 county distribution map
  9. 1 2 C. Michael Hogan. 2009. Marsh Thistle: Cirsium palustre, GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Strömberg Archived December 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  10. Van Der Kooi, C. J.; Pen, I.; Staal, M.; Stavenga, D. G.; Elzenga, J. T. M. (2015). "Competition for pollinators and intra-communal spectral dissimilarity of flowers". Plant Biology. 18 (1): 56–62. doi:10.1111/plb.12328. PMID   25754608.