Published In:
Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis 6: 643. 1837[1838]. (early Jan 1838) ( Prodr.)   
|
(Last Modified On 5/16/2022)
|
|
Acceptance
:
Accepted
|
|
(Last Modified On 1/6/2021)
|
|
Contributor Text:
A. Ghafoor & M. Qaiser
|
|
Contributor Institution:
Centre for Plant Conservation, University of Karachi – PAKISTAN
|
|
Synonym Text:
Cnicus arachnoides Wall., Cat. 99, n. 2891. 1831-nom. nud.; C. cernuus Wall., Cat. 99, n. 2892. 1831-nom. nud.; Cirsium nepalense DC., Prodr. 6: 642. 1838; Cirsium argyracanthum auct. non DC.: Wight, Ic. Ill. Pl. Ind. Orient. 3: Tab. 1137,1138. 1846; C.argyracanthus var. nepalense (DC.) C. B. Clarke, Comp. Ind. 218. 1876; Cnicus wallichii (DC.) C. B. Clarke, Comp. Ind. 219. 1876; Noel, Wild Flow. Kashm. 17. 1903; Bamber, Pl. Punj. 369. 1916; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 3: 363. 1881; Cnicus wallichii var. nepalense (DC.) Hook. f., l. c. 364; Cnicus wallichii DC. var glabrata Hook. f., l. c. 364; C. wallichii var. cernua Hook. f., l. c. 364; C. wallichii var. fasciculata Hook. f. op. cit; C. wallichii var. platylepis Hook.f., l. c.; C. wallichii DC. var. wightii Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 3: 364. 1881.
|
|
Flower/Fruit:
Fl. Per.: May – August Vern.: Wallich’s Thistle (English), Thakel, Kanta (Nepal), Kandara (NW India)
|
|
Type:
Type: Described from Nepal, Wallich s.n. (G-DC)
|
|
Distribution:
Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal, and China (Tibet)
|
|
Comment/Acknowledgements:
Commonly grows on field borders in irrigated and cultivated wet grounds in gravel mixed sandy soils in Pakhtoonkhwa (NWFP), Northern Areas (Gilgit, Baltistan) and Kashmir from 1200-3000 m. An extremely variable species in which several infraspecific taxa have been recognized at varietal level in the Hindu Kush, Karakorum and Himalayan mountains. These varieties having intergrading forms are found throughout the range of distribution of Cirsium wallichii. In our flora area all the three varieties namely: var. wallichii (leaves usually arachnoid beneath), var. glabratum (leaves mostly more or less glabrous below), and var. platylepis (leaves sessile and more or less tomentose or glabrous beneath) occur, but with a more or less continuous variation. Therefore it does not seem feasible to recognize them as independent taxa.
Aerial parts are used to treat stomach complaints in Sind Valley and Ladakh. Tuberous roots are peeled to remove bark and cooked as a vegetable in Kashmir and Garhwal Himalayas.
|
|
Map Location:
A-6 Chitral Dist.: Mastuj, at edge of fields, height 4 ft., Fls. white, alt. 8000 ft.,8. 8. 68, J.D. A. Stainton 3085 (A & BM); Drosh, alt. 1350 m, Bowes Lyon 709 (BM 001191154); Proper Chitral area, near Govt. Degree College, ±5500 ft., Qutbud Din Marwat & Israr Ali 902 (RAW); A-7 Karakorum, Gilgit, alt. 4790 ft., damp earth bank, irrigated and cultivated ground, florets whitish, 15. 7. 1960, G. Polunin 6050 (B); B-7 Dir Dist.: Timargarah, near river, wet soil, 800 m, erect herb, upto 3 ft. high, Flowers white, 15.7.1995, G. R. Sarwar & S. Omer 114 (KUH); Meanna, ca 14.5 – 16 Km from Dir on way to Chitral, ± 2000 m, erect herb, 40 – 50 cm tall, heads yellow, 10.8.1992, Tahir Ali, S.Z. Hussain & Gohar Khan 2135 (KUH); Swat Dist.: Kalam, Rahman 92 (RAW); Inter Barikot et Mingora,34˚ 47́ N, 72˚ 22́ E, alt. 700 – 900 m, Secus rivulos et fossas irrigationis copiose, 1. 6. 1965, K. H. Rechinger 30482 (B & W);Dobair,ca 25 km from Bahrain on way to Chilas, erect herb, ± 50 – 60 cm tall, Inflorescence cream, S. I. Ali et al. 3157 (KUH); Near village Babar between Khwaza Khela and Shangla, ca 2100 from sea level, erect, annual herb, ca 1 m tall, fls creamish-white, stem not winged, 6.10.1988, A. Ghafoor & Tahir Ali 4014 (KUH); Hazara Dist.: Shogran, Erect, 1.5 m high, Flowers yellow, 6.9.1988, S. Omer & M. Qaiser 2768 (KUH); Keran, Kishenganga (Neelum) valley, 5000 ft. R. R. Stewart 17606 (NY); Swat Dist.: Ushu Valley, Shahrat Forest 2 miles east of Matiltan Rest House, 31. 8. 1971, S. M. A. Kazmi 3537 (M); Hazara Dist.: Between Naran and Saiful Maluk Lake, 16. 8. 1965, S. M. A. Kazmi 2265 (M); Pakistan, Hazara, Murree Hills, ca 5 km S of Kundla village, N of Murree, alt. 2450 m, rocky, gravel slopes by the road, June 4 1972, Perti Uotila 17450 (H); Abotabad, 31.5.62, E. Nasir & Siddiqui 446 (RAW); B-8 Astore Valley, Northern Areas, Onshkin, grows along small canal, alt. 2500 m, erect herb upto 1.3 m tall, yellow florets, infrequent, 6.10.07, Jan Alam & Muneer Khan 3059 (KUH); Sonamarg, ± 9000 ft., August 23, 1921, R. R. Stewart 6776 (NY); Bandipur, Kashmir, Herb 3.5 ft. high, Fls. Cream to lavender, field borders, 5200 ft., July 29, 1936, Walter Koelz 9060 (NY, A); Kashmir, above Tarakbal, openings in Fir Forest, herb, 3 ft. high, Fl. Cream colored, 10,000 ft., July 31, 1936, Walter Koelz 9177 (NY); Srinagar, 3 ft. high, Fls. Pale rose – lavender, waste ground, 5500 ft., July 17, 1936, Walter Koelz 8941 (NY & A); Indus River Valley, near Skardu, wet places at Nansukh, alt. ca 7500 ft., pleasantly aromatic, fls. lemon yellow, 25 August 1955, G. L.Webster 6575 (A); Kashmir Regio temp.6 – 8000 ft. T. T. s.n. (A); Kashmir, Regio Temp., 6 – 8000 ft., T. T. s.n. (C); Western Himalaya, Kashmir, Bhadrar to Kishtvar, 23 to 26 July 1856, Schlagintweit Cat. # 3433 (A); Kashmir, Vicinity of Pahlgam, on East Lidder River, 27 road-miles north of Islamabad, July-August 1927, F.G. Dickason 934 (MICH); Vicinity of Sonamarg, on the Sind River, 50 road-miles east-northeast of Srinagar, July-August 1928, F.G.Dickason 935 (MICH); Kashmir, Regio Temp. 6 – 8000 ft., T. T s.n. (C); Pahlgam, Kashmir, Aug. 16, 1920, R.R. & I.D. Stewart s.n. (RAW); C-7 Rawalpindi Dist.: Murree, erect herb, ± 60-80 cm tall, fls. cream colored, 18.9.1989, Tahir Ali & S. Nadeem1994 (KUH); Murree, roadsides, 6 – 7000 ft., 14.11. 1960, R.R. Stewart s.n. (RAW); Kashmir, Ferozepur Nullah, below Gulmarg, ± 7500 ft., July 1936, R.R. Stewart 15522A (RAW); Kashmir, Sonamarg, 9500 ft., 16.8.1928, R.R. Stewart s.n. (RAW); Bandipur, Jhelum Valley, Kashmir, 5200 ft., August 14, 1919, R.R. & I.D. Stewart 5016 (RAW); B-9 Dras, Ladak, September 1922, R.R. Stewart s.n. (RAW); C-8 Azad Kashmir, Dungian above Chikar, Jehlum Valley, Aug. 69, Iftikhar & Mahmood I-28 (H).
|
|
Erect, up to 1 – 2.5 (–3) m tall, sparsely arachnoid hairy, moderately foliated perennial herb or shrub. Stem branched from middle, irregularly grooved, with short or up to 30 cm long, remotely foliose branches. Lower and middle stem leaves laxly arachnoid woolly hairy above, cobwebby hairy to glabrescent beneath, densely white near semi-auriculate to semiamplexicaul, sessile, not decurrent, lanceolate, sinuately pinnatipartite to ± pinnatisect, lobes triangular-ovate, 1–2‒dentate on either side, teeth ± obtuse or abruptly acuminate, terminating in yellowish, 2 – 8 mm long, somewhat less pungent spines; upper and uppermost leaves gradually smaller, narrowly lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, distantly sinuate-dentate, teeth unequally 2 – 4-denticled, acuminate and apically with up to ca 1.5 cm long, straw-colored, strong spine. Capitula subglobose, 3 – 3.5 cm across, subsessile or shortly pedunculate, often aggregated closely, rarely solitary, peduncles naked or with 1 – 3, linear, remotely dentate, often spinose bracts. Involucre glabrescent; outer and median phyllaries lanceolate-linear, 6 – 8 mm long, thin, attenuate, acuminate, with upper part keeled, straw-colored, and 2 – 3 mm long, erect-patent or somewhat recurved spines; inner and innermost phyllaries gradually longer, lanceolate-ovate, 1 – 1.5 cm long, dilated and scarious at apices, terminating in weak uncinated-recurved spines. Florets 18 – 20 mm long. Corolla dull yellow to pinkish-pale, limb hardly or slightly longer than the tube. Cypselas oblong-obovate, pale-brown, ca 4.5 mm long and ca 2 mm wide, tetragonal, glabrous. Pappus dirty white, bristles feathery.
|