| Yellowspine Thistle, Cirsium ochrocentrum Photos Taken September 23, 2006. Holbrook, Arizona. |
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| Yellowspine Thistle Cirsium ochrocentrum | Yellowspine Thistle Cirsium ochrocentrum |
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Yellowspine or Yellow Spine Thistle.
We wish to thank Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for some of the information on this page. We share images and information with Wikipedia. Cirsium ochrocentrum is a species of thistle known by the common name yellowspine thistle. It is native to the central United States, but its distribution is somewhat wider, reaching to California and into Mexico where the plant has been introduced. Yellowspine Thistle is an biennial or perennial that spreads by roots or seeds. It blooms from April - August. Its flowers may be either white, pink or pale purple and are composed of only disc flowers. Its leaves, flowers and winged stems are covered with very sharp, stout spines. Small rosettes from creeping roots are seen in the late summer and fall. It is considered by some, a weed which grows in disturbed areas such as roadsides. It is a perennial herb growing up to a meter tall with one to twenty white woolly stems per plant. 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 long. The leaves are spiny, with spines up to 1.5 centimeters long. The inflorescence produces several flower heads, each lined with hard, toothed phyllaries tipped with spines. The head contains white, pink, or lavender flowers. The fruit is an achene with a brown body nearly a centimeter long topped with a pappus which may be 3 centimeters long. Caution, the plant has spines or sharp edges; use extreme caution when handling.
Quick Notes:
Height: Normally, 18 to 24 inches, but can reach about 4 Feet Tall.
Flowers: Color, red to pink, or lavender to purple, sometimes white.
Stalk: Several erect, sparsely leaved stems with pinkish-lavender, bilaterally symmetrical flowers in a long, open, interrupted cluster.
Flowering Time: April - August.
Fruit: The fruit is an achene with a bristly pappus 0.6 to 0.8 inch long.
Seeds: Seedpods 1 - 1 1/2" long, 3/8 - 1/2" in diameter; a cylindrical pod; short-pointed at ends, reddish; maturing in summer, remaining attached, often opening late; many elliptical flattened shiny brown; seeds.
Leaves: The oblong - narrowly elliptic leaves are pinnately - lobed with pinate lobes.
Found: Native to the central United States, & Sonora, Mexico. Throughout Arizona. Normally in the high desert of Northern Arizona.
Hardiness:
Soil pH requirements:
Sun Exposure:
Elevation: 3,000 Feet - 7,000 Feet.
Habitat: Chalky/alkaline, Dry, Sandy, Well-drained/light soils, sandy washes. An ideal xeriscape landscape plant in Arizona.
Miscellaneous: Flowering Photos Taken September 23, 2006. Holbrook, Arizona. Drought-tolerant; suitable for xeriscaping.
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