Cirsium carolinianum (Walter) Fernald & B.G.Schub.

  • Authority

    Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

  • Family

    Asteraceae

  • Scientific Name

    Cirsium carolinianum (Walter) Fernald & B.G.Schub.

  • Description

    Species Description - Slender, fibrous-rooted biennial 5–15(–18) dm; stem glabrous or arachnoid, sometimes more evidently tomentose when young; lvs closely white-tomentose beneath, glabrous or hirsute on the upper surface, from merely spinose-ciliate and up to ca 2.5 cm wide to evidently pinnatifid and to 5 cm wide, the basal ones to 3 dm, the cauline relatively few, mostly 10–25, 8–15 cm and (except when lobed) seldom more than 1.5 cm wide, narrow-based, reduced upward; heads (1–) several, on long, naked peduncles terminating the branches; invol 1.5–2 cm, its middle and outer bracts with a glutinous dorsal ridge and a slender, suberect or spreading spine 1.5–4 mm, the inner merely attenuate and commonly crisped; fls pink-purple; achenes 3–4 mm; 2n=20. Open woods and dry, sandy soil; s. O. to the mts. of N.C., Ga., and Ala., w. to Mo. and Tex. May, June. (C. flaccidum)

  • Common Names

    spring-thistle