Tropicos | Name - !Cirsium Mill.

!Cirsium Mill.

Search in Index Nominum Genericorum (ING)

Search in African Plants Database at Geneva Botanical Garden

African Plants, Senckenberg Photo Gallery

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 5/16/2022)

Acceptance : Accepted

Project Data (Last Modified On 1/6/2021)

Contributor Text: A. Ghafoor & M. Qaiser

Contributor Institution: Centre for Plant Conservation, University of Karachi – PAKISTAN

Synonym Text:

Carduus L., Sp. Pl. 820. 1753 – pro parte; Serratula L., Sp. Pl. 816. 1753 – pro parte; Cnicus L., l. c. 826. 1753–Pro parte; Acalea Hill., Veg. Syst. 4: 14. 1762–pro parte; Cephalonaplos Necker, Elem. Bot. 1: 98.1790; Breea Less., Syn. Gen. Comp. 9.1832; Echenais Cass., Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris 33. 1818; Orthocentrum Cass., Dict. Sci. Nat. 36. 480. 1825; Onotrophe Cass., l.c. 41: 313. 1826; Spanioptilon Less., Syn. Gen. Comp. 10. 1832; Epitrachys C. Koch in Linnaea 24: 336. 1851.

Export To PDF

Export To Word

Biennial or perennial, rarely annual, upright, usually branched herbs with or without interrupted spiny winged stems. Leaves alternate, sessile, pinnatifid to pinnatisect, dorsally spinulose or not, often decurrent with spinous margins. Capitula mostly homogamous, discoid, medium to large sized, solitary to several and ± corymbose or variously grouped. Receptacle flat to somewhat convex-conical, densely beset with long bristles. Phyllaries multiseriate, imbricate, with resin duct, outermost recurved, spine-tipped, inner ones foliaceous, with an apical spinule. Florets all bisexual, rarely unisexual (by abortion), purple, pink, red, white rarely yellowish. Corolla tubular-campanulate, limb deeply 5-lobed, occasionally ± zygomorphic, with one lobe separated by deeper slit, lobes linear. Anthers caudate or ecaudate, on hairy rarely glabrous or papillatefilaments. Cypselas obovoid-oblong, glabrous, smooth, ± compressed or terete, with a caruncle in the middle of rimmed apex, and thin pericarp. Pappus multiseriate, bristles plumose, basally connate in a ring, deciduous as a whole, innermost bristles longer than those of outermost.

A large genus of true thistles, comprising ca 250 species, mainly distributed in Northern hemisphere of both old and new world. Represented in Pakistan by 11 species.

Excluded species

Cirsium acaule (L.) Scop. Annus. Hist.-Nat. 2: 62. 1769; R. R. Stewart, Ann. Cat. Vasc. Pl. W. Pak. & Kashm. 733. 1972.

Stewart, l. c. reported this species from Chitral, Pakistan and cited Stainton 2979, collected from Baroghil Pass, Chitral (BM, RAW, UPS). It seems that Stewart, l. c. may have confused this species due to its stemless habit. He, however, expressed his doubt that Stainton’s specimen might be C. rhizocephalum. We have examined this specimen and it proved to be C. rhizocephalum. C. acaule is distributed from N. England and Estonia towards S. Spain, Central and Atlantic Europe, Balkans and European Russia, whereas C. rhizocephalum is an Irano-Turanian element, distributed from Turkey, Iran, Caucasus, Afghanistan to Pakistan.

Export To PDF

Export To Word

1.	+	Stem, at least younger branches, spiny winged.	8. C. vulgare
	–	Stem unwinged.	2
2.	+	Leaves sparsely to densely spinulose on upper surface.	3
	–	Leaves not spinulose on upper surface or laxly papillose hairy above.	7
3.	+	Outer and median phyllaries terminating into 10–30 mm long, strong, yellow spines. Cypselas 6 – 7 mm long.	4
	–	Outer and median phyllaries terminating into 2–8 (–10) mm long spines. Cypselas 5 mm or less long.	5
4.	+	Capitula ± drooping, globose, densely woolly, 6 – 7 cm across. Plants 100 – 200 cm tall.	3. C. falconerii
	–	Capitula erect, oval – subglobose, not densely woolly, ˂6 cm across. Plants ˂100 cm tall.	1. C. aitchisonii
5.	+	Florets unisexual, plants dioecious (by abortion). Corolla limb twice as long as tube.	4. C. arvense
	–	Florets bisexual. Corolla limb as long as or shorter than tube.	6
6.	+	Leaves not spinulose beneath. Capitula in fascicles not in corymbs, rarely solitary. Corolla limb distinct from tube, almost half as long as tube.	2. C. argyracanthum
	–	Leaves densely spinulose beneath. Capitula in dense corymbs, not in fascicles. Corolla limb not distinct from tube, almost as long as or slightly shorter than tube.	5. C. verutum
7.	+	Plants dwarf, ± acaulous, perennial. Leaves in basal rosette.	7. C. rhizocephalum
	–	Plants erect, branched, usually more than 30 cm tall. Leaves not in basal rosette, cauline.	8
8.	+	Florets unisexual, plants dioecious. Capitula 6-9, in corymbs.	4. C. arvense
	–	Florets bisexual. Capitula solitary or in groups but not in corymbs.	9
9.	+	Corolla dull yellow. Capitula on naked or 1-3 bracted peduncles, often aggregated, rarely solitary.	6. C. wallichii
	–	Corolla pale-pink or purple. Capitula on peduncles with many bracts, rarely, ebracteate, solitary, rarely in groups of 2-3.	10
10.	+	Leaves laxly papillose hairy above, crisped hairy beneath. Pappus shorter than the florets.	10. C. swaticum
	–	Leaves scabrous, not papillose hairy above. Pappus as long as or longer than the florets, 2.5 – 3 cm long.	11
11.	+	Leaves sinuate pinnatifid, spinose on margins, ± concolorous. Pappus 12-18 mm long, dirty white. Cypselas brownish.	11. C. griffithii
	–	Leaves entire or undivided, espinose on margins, discolorous, gray white beneath and green above. Pappus brownish. Cypselas yellowish.	9. C. segetum