Skip to main content
  1. Family: Asteraceae Bercht. & J.Presl

    1. Cirsium Mill.

        2. This genus is accepted, and is native to Europe, Asia-Tropical, Africa, Southern America, Northern America and Asia-Temperate..

    [FTEA]

    Compositae, H. Beentje, C. Jeffrey & D.J.N. Hind. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2005

    Habit
    Herbs with spiny wings on stems
    Leaves
    Leaves alternate, pinnatifid (in ours), with spine-tipped teeth
    Capitulum
    Capitula homogamous, discoid; phyllaries many, in several series, imbricate, usually spine-tipped; receptacle densely setose
    Florets
    Florets hermaphrodite, rarely unisexual, narrowly tubular with a broad, deeply 5-lobed limb; anthers with sagittate bases, the adjacent auricles connate, tailed; style with an abrupt swelling with a ring of hairs just below the branches, these flat and ± connate, diverging only distally
    Fruits
    Achenes with a raised annular collar; pappus many-seriate, of plumose bristles connate into a ring at the base.
    [FZ]

    Compositae, G. V. Pope. Flora Zambesiaca 6:1. 1992

    Habit
    Perennial or biennial (annual) herbs.
    Stem
    Stems spiny-winged from decurrent leaf bases, rarely unarmed.
    Leaves
    Leaves pinnatifid in the Flora Zambesiaca area (entire) with spine-tipped teeth at the margins.
    Capitulum
    Capitula homogamous, discoid, loosely aggregated (or large solitary and terminal) on the branches.
    Phyllaries
    Phyllaries numerous many-seriate imbricate appressed, ± patent apically and usually spine-tipped, with or without subterminal vitta, margins entire to spinulose or lacerate.
    Receptacle
    Receptacle flat or convex, densely long-setose.
    Florets
    Florets hermaphrodite (rarely unisexual); corollas white to purple (yellowish), narrowly tubular with a broad deeply 5-lobed limb.
    Anthers
    Anther bases sagittate, the adjacent auricles connate and produced into entire or lacerate tails.
    Style
    Style 2-branched, with an abrupt swelling below the branches and a ring of hairs at or below the swelling; the branches erect, long somewhat flat and ± connate, diverging only near the tips.
    Fruits
    Achenes ± oblong, compressed smooth, glabrous with a raised annular collar at the apex, attachment-scar sub-basal oblique or ± horizontal.
    Seeds
    Pappus many-seriate; setae plumose, connate into a ring at the base, deciduous (± persistent), longest in the innermost series.

    Images

    Distribution

    Native to:

    Afghanistan, Alabama, Alaska, Albania, Alberta, Aleutian Is., Algeria, Altay, Amur, Arizona, Arkansas, Assam, Austria, Azores, Bahamas, Baleares, Baltic States, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, British Columbia, Bulgaria, Buryatiya, California, Central European Rus, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Colombia, Colorado, Connecticut, Corse, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Delaware, Denmark, District of Columbia, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, East Himalaya, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Finland, Florida, France, Føroyar, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Greenland, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Idaho, Illinois, India, Indiana, Inner Mongolia, Iowa, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Irkutsk, Italy, Japan, Kamchatka, Kansas, Kazakhstan, Kentucky, Kenya, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kriti, Krym, Kuril Is., Labrador, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Louisiana, Madeira, Magadan, Maine, Manchuria, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Mongolia, Montana, Morocco, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nebraska, Nepal, Netherlands, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Newfoundland, Nicaragua, North Carolina, North Caucasus, North Dakota, North European Russi, Northwest European R, Northwest Territorie, Norway, Nova Scotia, Ogasawara-shoto, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pakistan, Palestine, Panamá, Pennsylvania, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Primorye, Prince Edward I., Qinghai, Québec, Rhode I., Romania, Rwanda, Sakhalin, Sardegna, Saskatchewan, Saudi Arabia, Sicilia, Sinai, South Carolina, South Dakota, South European Russi, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tadzhikistan, Taiwan, Tanzania, Tennessee, Texas, Thailand, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkey-in-Europe, Turkmenistan, Tuva, Uganda, Ukraine, Utah, Uzbekistan, Vermont, Vietnam, Virginia, Washington, West Himalaya, West Siberia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Xinjiang, Yakutskiya, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Yukon, Zambia

    Introduced into:

    Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Bolivia, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Chatham Is., Chile Central, Chile North, Chile South, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Falkland Is., Free State, Hawaii, Iceland, Juan Fernández Is., Kermadec Is., KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, New South Wales, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Norfolk Is., Northern Provinces, Northern Territory, Nunavut, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Queensland, Réunion, South Australia, Tasmania, Uruguay, Victoria, Western Australia

    Accepted Species

    Synonyms

    Other Data

    Cirsium Mill. appears in other Kew resources:

    Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
    Rico, L. [1719], Armenia K000297245

    Bibliography

    First published in Gard. Dict. Abr., ed. 4.: s.p. (1754)

    Accepted by

    • Roskov Y. & al. (eds.) (2018). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands.

    Literature

    Flora Zambesiaca

    • C. Jeffrey in Kew Bull. 22: 129 (1968).
    • Gard. Dict., abr. ed. 4 (1754).

    Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • K. Bremer, Asteraceae Clad. & Class.: 143 (1994)
    • C. Jeffrey in K.B. 22: 129 (1968)
    • Gard. Dict., abr. ed.: 4 (1754)

    Sources

    Flora Zambesiaca
    Flora Zambesiaca
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
    'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.

    Kew Backbone Distributions
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2020. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

    Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2020. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0