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Thistle

Cirsium

Also called Thistles, Plume Thistles

Thistle
Photo: Robert Flogaus-Faust, CC BY 4.0

Cirsium is a genus of perennial and biennial plume thistles in the daisy family, mostly native to Eurasia and northern Africa, with about 60 North American species. Grown mainly as hardy garden and wildlife plants, with spiny leaves and showy purple, pink, yellow or white flower heads.

Family
Asteraceae (Daisy family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Water deeply during dry spells; established plants tolerate drought well.
Soil
Well-drained, average to poor soil; tolerant of many soil types.
Temperature
Hardy in cool temperate climates; most species tolerate winter cold well.
How easy
Easy

About

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 (Carduus, Silybum and Onopordum) in having a seed with a pappus of feathered hairs on their achenes. The other genera have a pappus of simple unbranched hairs.

They are mostly native to Eurasia and northern Africa, with about 60 species from North America (although several species have been introduced outside their native ranges). The lectotype species of the genus is Cirsium heterophyllum (L.) Hill.

Other Cirsium plants

Creeping Thistle · Edible thistle · Elk thistle · Yellow thistle · Marsh Thistle · Brook Thistle · Meadow thistle · Wavyleaf thistle · Spear Thistle

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cirsium by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

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