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Meadow thistle

Cirsium scariosum

Also called Elk Thistle, Dwarf Thistle

Meadow thistle
Photo: J Schmidt, Public domain

Meadow thistle (Cirsium scariosum) is a variable thistle native to western North America, grown mainly in wild and native-plant gardens. It is biennial or perennial and comes in rosette, mounding, or tall erect forms.

Family
Asteraceae (Daisy family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Water deeply but infrequently once established, and let the soil dry between waterings.
Soil
Well-drained, gritty or sandy soil; tolerates poor soil.
Temperature
Hardy in cold winters; native from Canada to Baja California, so tolerant of a wide range.
How easy
Easy
Native range
Canada to W. U.S.A.
Climate
temperate

About

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.

It was first published in Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., ser.2, vol.7 on page 420 in 1841.

Other Cirsium plants

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

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cirsium scariosum 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.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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