WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

 

Reaching 6-feet tall with spiny winged stems with numerous branches, this invasive weed can densely cover over-grazed pastures and disturbed areas. Note the flower heads with showy clusters of purple, filament-like florets, spiny-winged stems, and the short, bristle-like spines on the top surface of the leaves.


FLOWER: June–November. Flower heads rounded to bell-shaped, 1.5–2 inches diameter (3.8–5 cm), 1–2 inches long (2.5-5 cm), with purple disk florets; phyllaries with loose webby hairs and radiating, tapering, spiny tips.


LEAVES: Alternate, first-year rosettes can reach 3 feet in diameter. Blades oblong to lance-shaped, 6–16-inches long (15–40 cm), margins flat or twisted with spiny lobes along midrib, upper surface with tiny bristle-like spines (use lens), lower surface gray-hairy with hairy veins; leaf bases grow down the stem making it winged.


HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils roadsides, fields, disturbed areas.


ELEVATION: 4,500 to 7,500 feet.


RANGE: Widespread in western U. S., scattered in all 50 states.


SIMILAR SPECIES: 12 species of Cirsium in NM, 5 in 3 or less counties, and two introduced. This large-scale thistle is the only one with spiny wings on the stems and tiny, bristle-like spines on the upper leaf veins.


NM COUNTIES: Widespread in NM in low- to mid-elevation disturbed habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Chaves, Cibola, Colfax, Grant, Harding, Lincoln, Los Alamos, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, Roosevelt, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Taos, Torrance, Union, Valencia.

BULL  THISTLE

CIRSIUM  VULGARE

Aster Family, Asteraceae

Biennial herb, introduced noxious weed

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Range Map for

Cirsium vulgare

Radiating phyllaries with spiny tips and cob-webby hairs .

Spiny wings along stem (arrows).

Tiny bristle-like spines on upper leaf surface.

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