Cirsium drummondii

Torrey & A. Gray

Fl. N. Amer. 2: 459. 1843.

Common names: Drummond’s or dwarf or short-stemmed thistle
Endemic
Synonyms: Cirsium coccinatum Osterhout
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 19. Treatment on page 153. Mentioned on page 99, 100, 154.

Biennials or monocarpic perennials, acaulescent or caulescent, 5–110 cm; taproots stout. Stems erect, stout, fleshy, leafy, simple or distally branched, villous or tomentose with long, septate trichomes; branches usually short, stout, ascending. Leaves: blades oblongelliptic to oblanceolate, 15–30+ × 3–7 cm, usually shallowly to deeply pinnatifid, lobes ovate to broadly triangular, spreading, usually separated by broad U-shaped sinuses, spinose-dentate or coarsely lobed, main spines 2–5 (–8) mm, slender, abaxial faces villous with septate trichomes, at least along veins, sometimes thinly arachnoid, adaxial villous with septate trichomes; basal often present at flowering, spiny winged-petiolate; principal cauline winged-petiolate or sessile, not much reduced distally; distal reduced, similar to proximal, crowded around heads. Heads 1–5 (–9), borne singly or crowded in corymbiform arrays at tips of main-stems, often closely subtended and overtopped by 1–several distal leaves. Peduncles 0–5 (–10) cm, leafy-bracted. Involucres broadly ovoid to hemispheric, 3.5–5 × 3.5–5 cm (appearing much wider and ± campanulate in pressed specimens), loosely arachnoid on phyllary margins or glabrate. Phyllaries in 4–6 series, strongly imbricate, ovate or broadly lanceolate (outer) to lance-linear (inner), abaxial faces with ± narrow glutinous ridge; outer and mid appressed, spines erect to ascending, 2–3 mm; apices of mid and inner narrowed and scabrid-denticulate, innermost spineless, with expanded, flexuous, erose-denticulate tips. Corollas purple (white), 30–48 mm, tubes 17–30 mm, throats 6.5–11 mm, lobes 5–7 mm; style tips 5–7 mm. Cypselae stramineous to light-brown, 3.5–5.5 mm, apical collar yellow, narrow; pappi 30–42 mm.


Phenology: Flowering summer (Jun–Aug).
Habitat: Dry to moist soil, prairies, pastures, meadows, forest edges, woodland openings, roadsides
Elevation: 300–2300 m

Distribution

V19-149-distribution-map.gif

Alta., B.C., Man., N.W.T., Ont., Sask., Colo., S.Dak., Wyo.

Discussion

Cirsium drummondii is widely distributed across Canada from the Northwest Territories to British Columbia and Ontario. The name C. drummondii has been misapplied to a wide range of plants across the western United States that are now treated as one or another variety of the polymorphic C. scariosum. The only documented modern occurrences of C. drummondii in the United States are in the Black Hills of South Dakota and adjacent Wyoming. Specimens collected by Hall and Harbour (342) are the only ones of C. drummondii known from Colorado. Somewhat similar plants from northern Nevada are treated here as C. scariosum var. toiyabense. During Pleistocene glaciations the ancestors of C. drummondii undoubtedly occupied a more southerly distribution and very likely came into direct contact with populations of C. scariosum. The observed similarities between C. drummondii and C. scariosum var. toiyabense are probably a relict of that ancient contact.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"fine" is not a number."broad" is not a number.

... more about "Cirsium drummondii"
arachnoid +  and villous +
short-tailed +
spineless +  and twisted +
dentate +, entire +  and spine-tipped +
erect +  and spreading +
innermost +
rounded;acute +
scarious +
indeterminate +  and determinate +
David J. Keil +
Torrey & A. Gray +
winged-petiolate +
decurrent +
Asteraceae tribe Cynareae +
compound +  and simple +
15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br /> (30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br />) +
pinnatifid;oblongelliptic;oblanceolate +
3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br /> (7 cm70 mm <br />0.07 m <br />) +
10-nerved or 20-nerved +  and rugose +
tawny +  and white +
Drummond’s or dwarf or short-stemmed thistle +
actinomorphic +
white +  and pink red yellow or purple +
3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br /> (4.8 cm48 mm <br />0.048 m <br />) +
stramineous +  and light-brown +
compressed +  and ovoid +
fertile +  and bisexual +
Alta. +, B.C. +, Man. +, N.W.T. +, Ont. +, Sask. +, Colo. +, S.Dak. +  and Wyo. +
300–2300 m +
gray-canescent +  and glabrous +
pistillate +, staminate +  and neuter +
winged +  and beaked +
dispersed +
Dry to moist soil, prairies, pastures, meadows, forest edges, woodland openings, roadsides +
crowded +  and or +
indeterminate +
each +  and sessile +
3.5 cm35 mm <br />0.035 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
glabrate +  and arachnoid +
broadly ovoid;hemispheric +
3.5 cm35 mm <br />0.035 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
sessile +  and petiolate +
cauline +  and basal +
bristle-tipped +
lobed +, spinose-dentate +, ovate +  and broadly triangular +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (0.7 cm7 mm <br />0.007 m <br />) +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br />) +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
entire +  and dentate +
usually lobed +  and dissected +
2-carpellate +
persistent +
3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br /> (4.2 cm42 mm <br />0.042 m <br />) +
5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br /> (10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br />) +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
Flowering summer (Jun–Aug). +
middle +  and outer +
weakly to strongly +
papillate +  and smooth +
sessile +  and winged-petiolate +
Fl. N. Amer. +
bearing subulate enations +, hairy +  and bristly +
flat;convex +
glutinous +
tawny;white +
setiform +  and plumose +
exalbuminous +
subequal +
erect +  and ascending +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br />) +
branched +, simple +  and leafy +
tomentose +  and villous +
appendaged +  and truncate +
dilated +  and swollen +
enlarged +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (0.7 cm7 mm <br />0.007 m <br />) +
Cirsium coccinatum +
Cirsium drummondii +
species +
cylindric +
expanded +
0.65 cm6.5 mm <br />0.0065 m <br /> (1.1 cm11 mm <br />0.011 m <br />) +
flexuous +
erose-denticulate +
expanded +
bristly-dentate to coarsely +
slender +
1.7 cm17 mm <br />0.017 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +
caulescent +  and acaulescent +
perennial +  and biennial +
scabrid-denticulate +  and narrowed +
5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br /> (110 cm1,100 mm <br />1.1 m <br />) +
tree +, vine +, shrub +  and subshrub +