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| Photos by Renee Brecht |
Britton and Brown. See
credits below.** |
| Botanical name: |
Cirsium
discolor (Muhl. ex Willd.) Spreng. |
| Common
name: |
field thistle |
| Group: |
dicot |
| Family: |
Asteraceae |
| Growth
Type: |
forb/herb |
| Duration: |
biennial
perennial |
| Origin: |
native |
| Plant
height: |
3-7' |
| Foliage: |
prickly, deeply lobed, undersides
covered with white felt |
| Flowers: |
large heads, pink to purple, to 2"
across |
| Flowering/fruiting time: |
mid-August to late September,
occasionally into October |
| Habitat: |
fields and roadsides |
| Range
in
New Jersey: |
statewide
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| Heritage ranking if any: |
n/a |
| Distribution: |
 |
| Misc.: |
The white underside of the leaves
distinguishes this plant from the non-native Cirsium
vulgare; also
the bracts subtending the flowerheads have only fine spines or no
spines, as opposed to numerous spines on C. vulgare.
Insect pollinated by bumblebees, and butterflies such as monarchs,
fritillaries, painted ladies, swallowtails, sulphers, and sphinx mox.
It is larval food for painted ladies. The seeds are eaten by
goldfinches, and the hair on the underside of the leaf is used as nest
lining material. Ruby throated hummingbird will also drink its nectar. Illinois
wildflowers
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Sources
**USDA-NRCS
PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An
illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British
Possessions. Vol. 3: 549.
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