Cirsium occidentale var. venustum     (E. Green) Jepson   Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)    Native   Venus Thistle

                               April Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Biennial, plants generally 5-30 dm. tall, erect; stems generally 1, branched above, +/- tomentose; lvs. +/- densely gray to +/- green or rarely whitish tomentose, especially below; lower lvs. 1-4 dm., petioles spiny-winged, blade oblanceolate, lobed 1/2 to midvein, lobes widely triangular, dentate or further lobed, main spines 1-10 mm.; upper lvs. gradually reduced, sessile, +/- clasping or short-decurrent, linear or oblong, often entire, often spinier than lower, uppermost lvs. bract-like; heads generally long peduncled, sometimes in tight clusters at ends of peduncles, well elevated above lower lvs.; involucre 2-6 cm. in diam., subglabrous to densely cobwebby, generally longer than wide; middle phyllary tips 5-20+ mm., generally 2-3 mm. wide, ascending to rigidly spreading or reflexed; corollas 23-35 mm., generally +/- red (white, pink, purple).

Habitat:  North County Ranges, southern Sierra Nevada, White and Inyo Mts. southward.  Generally more inland than var. occidentale but some plants from San Francisco bay region not readily separable.  (Hickman, Ed. 238).

Name:  Cirsium, Greek for thistle.  (Hickman, Ed. 232).  Latin, occidentalis, western. Latin, venustus, charming, elegant.  (Jaeger 170,279).  Cirsium occidentale var. venustum, elegant western thistle.  (my comment). 

General:  Rare in the study area having been  found in only one location and this on the bench below Eastbluff North.  There were three plants noted in this location.  (my comment).       The pale swallowtail, Papilio eurymedon, feeds on the flower nectar of this plant.  Frankie, Gordon, "Introduction"  (FREMONTIA, A Journal of the California Native Plant Society Vol. 30 Nos. 3-4 July-Oct. 2002 p.3,4.       Intergrades with var. candidissimum in the Klamath Ranges, North Coast Ranges and High Sierra Nevada, and with var. californicum in southern and central Sierra Nevada and South Coast Ranges.  Plants with pale corolla sometimes difficult to separate from var. californicum.  (Hickman, Ed. 238).        About 200 species, North America and Eurasia.  (Hickman, Ed. 232).

Text Ref:  Hickman, Ed. 238.

Photo Ref:  Mar-April 95 # 11,32; April 95 # E; April-May 95 # 2; May-July 95 # 9A.

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by John Johnson.  

First Found: March 1995.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 484.

Have plant specimen.

Last Edit 5/21/04.  

                               March Photo                                                                   October Photo