CIRSIUM Mill.THISTLE

CIRSIUM Mill. - THISTLE

Scientific Description:

Perennial, biennial or rarely annual herbs; plants rarely dioecious; stems spiny-winged or unarmed, branched or not. Leaves spinose at margins, upper surface with or without setae and spinules, entire to pinnatisect. Capitula homogamous, discoid, solitary or crowded. Phyllaries pluriseriate, imbricate, adpressed or ± patent in upper part, with or without a subterminal vitta, sometimes appendaged, usually with a terminal spine, margins entire to spinulose or lacerate. Receptacle long-hairy. Flowers hermaphrodite or rarely unisexual, tubular, usually unequally 5-fid, white to purple, sometimes yellowish; base of corolla tube slightly widened. Pollen grains globose. Achenes ± oblong, compressed, smooth, glabrous, with ± hemispherical umbo; hilum oval, sub-basal. Pappus pluriseriate, plumose, connate at base into a ring, deciduous or ± persistent, innermost hairs longest, often scabrous or thickened at apex; very rarely completely scabrous.

Reference:
Davis PH & Parris BS (1975). Cirsium Miller, In: Davis PH (ed.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 5: 370.

Public Description:

Cirsium is a genus of biennial or perennial herbs known as “thistle”, is mostly native to Eurasia and northern Africa. There are approximately 481 species in the world and 64 species (76 taxa) in Türkiye. Thistles are known for their effusive flower heads, usually purple, rose or pink, also yellow or white. They have erect stems, prickly leaves, and characteristic spiny flowers.

References:

Anonymous 1 (2016). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirsium, Accessed date: 06.01.2016.

Anonymous 2 (2016). http://www.theplantlist.org/1.1/browse/A/Compositae/Cirsium/, Accessed date: 06.01.2016.

Yıldız B (2012). Cirsium Mill., In: Güner, A., Aslan, S., Ekim, T., Vural, M. & Babaç, M.T. (eds.), Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul, pp. 141–146.