Cirsium undulatum

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Cirsium undulatum
Cirsiumundulatum.jpg
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe)
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. undulatum
Binomial name
Cirsium undulatum
Synonyms [1]
  • Carduus megacephalusA.Nelson
  • Carduus undulatusNutt.
  • Cirsium megacephalum(A.Gray) Cockerell ex Daniels
  • Cnicus undulatus(Nutt.) A.Gray

Cirsium undulatum is a species of thistle known by the common names wavyleaf thistle and gray thistle. [2] 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. [3] [4]

Cirsium undulatum is widespread and found in many habitat types. It is a perennial herb exceeding 200 cm (79 in) in height. The stem branches a few times toward the top of the plant if at all. The leaves are very wavy along the edges and usually cut into shallow toothed lobes. The longest near the base of the plant are up to 30 centimetres (12 inches) long. The inflorescence holds one or more flower heads each up to 5 centimetres (2.0 inches) long and wide. The head is lined with spiny phyllaries of different shapes. The flowers in the head are white to lavender to pink and up to 5 centimetres (2.0 inches) long. The fruit is an achene a few millimeters long with a pappus which may be up to 4 centimeters in length. [4] [5]

Cirsium undulatum has been shown to have its seed production reduced by an exotic weevil Larinus planus which was released to control Canada thistle. [6]

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 arvense</i> Species of flowering plant

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>Centaurea solstitialis</i> Species of flowering plant

Centaurea solstitialis, the yellow star-thistle, is a species of thorny plant in the genus Centaurea, which is part of the family Asteraceae. A winter annual, it is native to the Mediterranean Basin region and invasive in many other places. It is also known as golden starthistle, yellow cockspur and St. Barnaby's thistle.

<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>Rhinocyllus conicus</i> Species of beetle

Rhinocyllus conicus is a species of true weevil. It is best known as a controversial agent of biological pest control which has been used against noxious thistles in the genera Carduus, Cirsium, Onopordum, and Silybum.

<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 andersonii</i> Species of thistle

Cirsium andersonii is a North American species of thistle known by the common names Anderson's thistle and rose thistle. It is native to California, Oregon, and Nevada, where it grows in the woodlands and forest openings of the local high mountain ranges, including the Sierra Nevada and the southern Cascade Range. It has also been reported from Idaho.

Cirsium ciliolatum is a species of thistle known by the common name Ashland thistle. It is endemic to the Klamath Mountains, where it is known from only a few occurrences in Jackson and Josephine Counties in Oregon, as well as neighboring Humboldt and Siskiyou Counties in California. It is related to Cirsium undulatum and may be more accurately described as a variety of that species.

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

Cirsium cymosum is a North American species of thistle known by the common name peregrine thistle. It is native to the western United States, where it has been found in California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana.

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

Cirsium douglasii is a species of thistle known by the common names Douglas' thistle and California swamp thistle.

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

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.

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

Cirsium rhothophilum is a rare North American species of thistle known by the common name surf thistle. It is endemic to California, where it is known only from the coastline around the border between San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. It grows in sand dunes and coastal scrub near the beach.

<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>Larinus planus</i> Species of beetle

Larinus planus is an insect of the Curculionidae family. They are oval shaped, dark brown or black, and about 5–10 millimetres long. While native to Europe, it is also common in North America. It feeds on floral buds, primarily of thistles, with the larvae stage being the most destructive to them. In North America, it has been used as a biocontrol agent. It is also known as Larinus carlinae.

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

Cirsium vinaceum is a rare species of thistle known by the common name Sacramento Mountains thistle. It is endemic to Otero County, New Mexico, in the United States, where it is known only from the Sacramento Mountains. The plant can be found in six canyon systems in a southern section of this mountain range spanning about 32 kilometers. It is rare because it is limited to a specific type of mountain wetland which is both naturally uncommon and threatened by a number of forces. The plant was federally listed as threatened in 1987.

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

Cirsium perplexans is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names Rocky Mountain thistle and Adobe Hills thistle. It is endemic to Colorado in the United States, where it occurs in the Colorado and Gunnison River Valleys in the Rocky Mountains.

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

Cirsium hookerianum, common name Hooker's thistle or white thistle, is a North American species of thistle native to western Canada and the northwestern United States. It is found in the northern Rocky Mountains as well as in some of the northern Cascades and Coast Ranges, in Alberta, British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

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.

<i>Larinus turbinatus</i> Species of beetle

Larinus turbinatus is a species of true weevil in the family of beetles known as Curculionidae.

<i>Larinus sturnus</i> Species of cylindrical weevil

Larinus sturnus is a species of cylindrical weevils belonging to the family Curculionidae, subfamily Lixinae.

References

  1. The Plant List, Cirsium undulatum (Nutt.) Spreng.
  2. Calflora taxon report, University of California, Cirsium undulatum (Nutt.) Spreng., wavy leaved thistle, wavyleaf thistle
  3. Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
  4. 1 2 Flora of North America, Cirsium undulatum
  5. United States Department of Agriculture Plants Profile
  6. Louda, Svaa M.; O'Brien, Charles W. (June 2002). "Unexpected Ecological Effects of Distributing the Exotic Weevil, Larinus planus (F.), for the Biological Control of Canada Thistle" (PDF). Conservation Biology. 16 (3): 717–727. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.2002.00541.x.[ permanent dead link ]