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Species
Cirsium arvense var. vestitum Wimmer & Grab.
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Cirsium arvense is a species of Cirsium, native throughout Europe and northern Asia, and widely introduced elsewhere. The standard English name in its native area is Creeping Thistle.[1][2][3]
Contents
Alternative names[edit]
A number of other names have been used in the past, or in other areas including: Canada Thistle,[4] Canadian Thistle, Lettuce From Hell Thistle, California Thistle,[5] Corn Thistle, Cursed Thistle, Field Thistle, Green Thistle, Hard Thistle, Perennial Thistle, Prickly Thistle, Small-flowered Thistle and Way Thistle. The first two names are in wide use in the United States, despite being a misleading designation (it is not of Canadian origin).[6]
Physical characteristics[edit]
It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing 30–100 cm, forming extensive clonal colonies from an underground root system that sends up numerous erect stems each spring, reaching 1–1.2 m tall (occasionally more).
Stems are green smooth and glabrous (having no Trichome or glaucousness), mostly without spiny wings. The stems often lie partly flat by summer but can stay erect if supported by other vegetation. The leaves are very spiny, lobed, up to 15–20 cm long and 2–3 cm broad (smaller on the upper part of the flower stem).
The inflorescence is 10–22 mm diameter, pink-purple, with all the florets of similar form (no division into disc and ray florets). The flowers are usually dioecious, but not invariably so, with some plants bearing hermaphrodite flowers. The seeds are 4–5 mm long, with a feathery pappus which assists in wind dispersal.[3][7][8] The plant also spreads underground using rhizomes.
- Cirsium arvense var. arvense. Most of Europe. Leaves hairless or thinly hairy beneath.
- Cirsium arvense var. incanum (Fisch.) Ledeb. Southern Europe. Leaves thickly hairy beneath.
As a subclassification of the "Eudicot" monophyletic group, Cirsium is a "true dicotyledon". The number of Pollen grain furrows or pores helps classify the flowering plants, with eudicots having three colpi (tricolpate).[9][10]
C. arvense is a C3 carbon fixation plant.[11] The C3 plants, originated during Mesozoic and Paleozoic eras, and tend to thrive in areas where sunlight intensity is moderate, temperatures are moderate, and ground water is plentiful. C3 plants lose 97% of the water taken up through their roots to transpiration.[12]
It is a Ruderal species.[13]
Ecology[edit]
The seeds are an important food for Goldfinch and Linnet, and to a lesser extent for other finches.[14] Creeping Thistle foliage is used as a food by over 20 species of Lepidoptera, including the Painted Lady butterfly and the Engrailed, a species of moth, and several species of aphids.[15][16][17]
Status as a weed[edit]
The species is widely considered a weed even where it is native, for example being designated an "injurious weed" in the United Kingdom under the Weeds Act 1959.[18] It is also a serious invasive species in many additional regions where it has been introduced, usually accidentally as a contaminant in cereal crop seeds. It is cited as a noxious weed in several countries; for example Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States. Many countries regulate this plant, or its parts (i.e., seed) as a contaminant of other imported products such as grains for consumption or seeds for propagation. In Canada, Cirsium arvense is classified as a primary noxious weed seed in the Weed Seeds Order 2005 which applies to Canada's Seeds Regulations.[19]
Control methods include:
- cutting at flower stem extension before the flower buds open to prevent seed spread. Repeated cutting at the same growth stage over several years may "wear down" the plant.
- Applying herbicide: Herbicides dominated by phenoxy compounds (especially MCPA) saw drastic declines in Thistle infestation in Sweden in the 1950s.[11]MCPA and Clopyralid are approved in some regions.
Orellia ruficauda feeds on Canada thistle has been reported to be the most effective biological control agent for that plant.[20] Its larvae parasitize the seed heads of the plant feeding solely upon fertile seed heads.[21]
The rust species Puccinia obtegens has shown some promise for controlling Canada thistle, but it must be used in conjunction with other control measures to be effective.[22] Also Puccinia punctiformis is used in North America and New Zealand in biological control.[23]
Aceria anthocoptes feeds on this species and is considered to be a good potential biological control agent.
Uses[edit]
Like other Cirsium species, the roots are edible, though rarely used, not least because of their propensity to induce flatulence in some people. The taproot is considered the most nutritious.[citation needed] The leaves are also edible, though the spines make their preparation for food too tedious to be worthwhile. The stalks, however, are also edible and more easily de-spined.[24]
The flower portion is also used by the Cherokee Indians to make blowgun darts. [25]
Gallery[edit]
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A Creeping Thistle with a "cuckoo spit"
References[edit]
- ^ Joint Nature Conservation Committee: Cirsium arvense
- ^ Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland Database
- ^ a b c Flora of Northwest Europe: Cirsium arvense
- ^ Nebraska Department of Agriculture Noxious Weed Program
- ^ Californian Thistle (Cirsium arvense), Landcare Research, New Zealand
- ^ Invasive and Problem Plants of the United States: Cirsium arvense
- ^ Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. ISBN 0-340-40170-2
- ^ Kay, Q. O. N. (1985). Hermaphrodites and subhermaphrodites in a reputedly dioecious plant, Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop. New Phytol. 100: 457-472. Available online (pdf file).
- ^ Kenneth R. Sporne (1972). "Some Observations on the Evolution of Pollen Types in Dicotyledons". New Phytologist 71 (1): 181–185. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.1972.tb04826.x.
- ^ Walter S. Judd and Richard G. Olmstead (2004). "A survey of tricolpate (eudicot) phylogenetic relationships". American Journal of Botany 91 (10): 1627–1644. doi:10.3732/ajb.91.10.1627. PMID 21652313. (full text)
- ^ a b Weeds and weed management on arable land: an ecological approach Sigurd Håkansson CABI Publishing Series, 2003, ISBN 0-85199-651-5
- ^ Raven, J.A.; Edwards, D. (2001). "Roots: evolutionary origins and biogeochemical significance". Journal of Experimental Botany 52 (90001): 381–401. doi:10.1093/jexbot/52.suppl_1.381. PMID 11326045.
- ^ p80
- ^ Cramp, S., & Perrins, C. M. (1994). The Birds of the Western Palearctic. Vol. VIII: Crows to Finches. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- ^ Finnish Lepidoptera Cirsium arvense
- ^ The Ecology of Commanster: Cirsium arvense
- ^ Ecological Flora of the British Isles: Phytophagous Insects for Cirsium arvense
- ^ DEFRA: Identification of injurious weeds
- ^ Weed Seeds Order 2005, Canada Gazette Part I, Vol. 139, No. 9
- ^ Moore 1975, Maw 1976
- ^ Lalonde
- ^ Turner et al. 1980
- ^ R. C. French, A. R. Lightfield: Induction of Systemic Aecial Infection in Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense) by Teliospores of Puccinia punctiformis. In: Phytopathology. Band 80, Nr. 8, 1990, S. 872–877, DOI:10.1094/Phyto-80-872
- ^ Plants for a Future: Cirsium arvense
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySjOxBJ0AEQ
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Wikipedia |
Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cirsium_arvense&oldid=637450318 |
Canada thistle is distributed throughout the northern U.S., from northern California to Maine and southward to Virginia. It is also found in Canada, for which it was named. Canada thistle has been identified as a management problem on many national parks and on preserves of The Nature Conservancy in the upper Midwest, Plains states, and the Pacific northwest.
More info on this topic.
This species is known to occur in association with the following plant community types (as classified by Küchler 1964):
More info for the terms: bog, shrub
KUCHLER [119] PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:
K001 Spruce-cedar-hemlock forest
K002 Cedar-hemlock-Douglas-fir forest
K003 Silver fir-Douglas-fir forest
K004 Fir-hemlock forest
K005 Mixed conifer forest
K006 Redwood forest
K007 Red fir forest
K008 Lodgepole pine-subalpine forest
K009 Pine-cypress forest
K010 Ponderosa shrub forest
K011 Western ponderosa forest
K012 Douglas-fir forest
K013 Cedar-hemlock-pine forest
K014 Grand fir-Douglas-fir forest
K015 Western spruce-fir forest
K016 Eastern ponderosa forest
K017 Black Hills pine forest
K018 Pine-Douglas-fir forest
K019 Arizona pine forest
K020 Spruce-fir-Douglas-fir forest
K021 Southwestern spruce-fir forest
K022 Great Basin pine forest
K023 Juniper-pinyon woodland
K024 Juniper steppe woodland
K025 Alder-ash forest
K026 Oregon oakwoods
K028 Mosaic of K002 and K026
K029 California mixed evergreen forest
K030 California oakwoods
K032 Transition between K031 and K037
K034 Montane chaparral
K035 Coastal sagebrush
K036 Mosaic of K030 and K035
K037 Mountain-mahogany-oak scrub
K038 Great Basin sagebrush
K047 Fescue-oatgrass
K048 California steppe
K049 Tule marshes
K050 Fescue-wheatgrass
K051 Wheatgrass-bluegrass
K052 Alpine meadows and barren
K055 Sagebrush steppe
K056 Wheatgrass-needlegrass shrubsteppe
K063 Foothills prairie
K064 Grama-needlegrass-wheatgrass
K066 Wheatgrass-needlegrass
K067 Wheatgrass-bluestem-needlegrass
K068 Wheatgrass-grama-buffalo grass
K069 Bluestem-grama prairie
K070 Sandsage-bluestem prairie
K074 Bluestem prairie
K075 Nebraska Sandhills prairie
K081 Oak savanna
K082 Mosaic of K074 and K100
K084 Cross Timbers
K093 Great Lakes spruce-fir forest
K094 Conifer bog
K095 Great Lakes pine forest
K096 Northeastern spruce-fir forest
K098 Northern floodplain forest
K099 Maple-basswood forest
K100 Oak-hickory forest
K101 Elm-ash forest
K102 Beech-maple forest
K103 Mixed mesophytic forest
K104 Appalachian oak forest
K106 Northern hardwoods
K107 Northern hardwoods-fir forest
K108 Northern hardwoods-spruce forest
K109 Transition between K104 and K106
K110 Northeastern oak-pine forest
Temperate regions of Eurasia
More info on this topic.
This species is known to occur in the following ecosystem types (as named by the U.S. Forest Service in their Forest and Range Ecosystem [FRES] Type classification):
ECOSYSTEMS [74]:
FRES10 White-red-jack pine
FRES11 Spruce-fir
FRES15 Oak-hickory
FRES17 Elm-ash-cottonwood
FRES18 Maple-beech-birch
FRES19 Aspen-birch
FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES22 Western white pine
FRES23 Fir-spruce
FRES24 Hemlock-Sitka spruce
FRES25 Larch
FRES26 Lodgepole pine
FRES27 Redwood
FRES28 Western hardwoods
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES34 Chaparral-mountain shrub
FRES35 Pinyon-juniper
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES37 Mountain meadows
FRES38 Plains grasslands
FRES39 Prairie
FRES41 Wet grasslands
FRES42 Annual grasslands
FRES44 Alpine
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 18
Specimens with Barcodes: 41
Species With Barcodes: 1
Canada thistle is an extremely widespread weed of agricultural and ecological areas in the U.S, occurring throughout the northern states and Southwest but is largely absent in the South from Texas to Georgia. Twenty large national parks across the country report it as a serious invasive plant affecting natural resources. It invades a variety of dry to moist open habitats including barrens, fields, glades, grasslands, pastures, stream banks, wet meadows, wet prairies, and open forests. It is not very tolerant of shade.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | U.S. National Park Service |
Source | http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/pubs/midatlantic/ciar.htm |
Canada thistle grows in barrens, glades, meadows, prairies, fields, pastures, and waste places. It does best in disturbed upland areas but also invades wet areas with fluctuating water levels such as streambank sedge meadows and wet prairies.