Cirsium ochrocentrum

Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Cirsium
Species:
C. ochrocentrum
Binomial name
Cirsium ochrocentrum
Synonyms[1]
  • Carduus ochrocentrus (A.Gray) Greene
  • Cnicus ochrocentrus (A.Gray) A.Gray
  • Cnicus undulatus var. ochrocentrus (A.Gray) A.Gray

Cirsium ochrocentrum is a species of thistle known by the common name yellowspine thistle. It is native to the Great Plains of the Central United States and to the desert regions of the western United States and northern Mexico. Its range extends from eastern Oregon east to the Black Hills of South Dakota, south as far as the Mexican State of Durango.[2][3][4][5]

Description

The plant is a perennial herb growing up to 1 metre (3.3 ft) tall, with one to twenty white woolly stems per plant.[5]

The leaves are generally deeply lobed and the lobes cut into sharp teeth. The longest leaves at the base of the plant are up to about 25 centimeters (10 inches) long. The leaves are spiny, with spines up to 1.5 centimeters long.[5]

The inflorescence consists of several flower heads, each lined with hard, toothed phyllaries tipped with spines. The head contains white, pink, or lavender disc florets but no ray florets.[5]

The fruit is an achene with a brown body nearly a centimeter long topped with a pappus which may be 3 centimeters long.[5]

Varieties[1][5]

Uses

Among the Zuni people, an infusion of the plant taken by both partners as a contraceptive.[6] An infusion of whole plant is also taken as a diaphoretic, diuretic, and emetic to treat syphilis.[7][6] An infusion of the fresh or dried root is taken three times a day for diabetes.[6][5]

It is a weed in California and Northwestern Mexico. It grows in fields and disturbed areas such as roadsides.

References

  1. 1 2 The Plant List, Cirsium ochrocentrum A.Gray
  2. ↑ Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
  3. ↑ Flora of North America, Cirsium ochrocentrum A. Gray
  4. ↑ CalFlora taxon report, University of California: Cirsium ochrocentrum
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Flora of North America
  6. 1 2 3 Camazine, Scott and Robert A. Bye 1980 A Study Of The Medical Ethnobotany Of The Zuni Indians of New Mexico. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 2:365–388 (p.374)
  7. ↑ Stevenson, Matilda Coxe 1915 Ethnobotany of the Zuni Indians. SI-BAE Annual Report #30 (p.44-45)
  • Media related to Cirsium ochrocentrum at Wikimedia Commons
  • Data related to Cirsium ochrocentrum at Wikispecies
  • "Cirsium ochrocentrum". Plants for a Future.
  • "Cirsium ochrocentrum". Calflora. Berkeley, California: The Calflora Database.
  • Cirsium ochrocentrum in the CalPhotos photo database, University of California, Berkeley
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