Identifying native thistle
Sarah Krueger
Hi Linda (and all) –
I am not the expert botanist, but here is what I know about thistles… Some of the distinctive traits of the native thistles (Cirsium edule & Cirsium brevistylum) are the wooly flower heads (look like they are spun with cotton- see picture below) and the smooth stems (remember you can “hug a native thistle”). Non-native Bull and Musk Thistle have notably spiny stems. Canada thistle does not have a particularly spiny stem but its flowers are much smaller than the natives and do not exhibit the wooliness – they also bear multiple small flower heads at the end of branch tips.
Here are links to more information about the various thistles of Washington State:
http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php?Genus=Cirsium&Species=brevistylum
My best advice, when in doubt, record the location of the suspect plant and take pictures of the flowers, stem and leaves and send them along after your survey.
Thanks!
Sarah
Sarah Krueger
Public Lands Programs Manager
The Mountaineers
(206) 521-6012
From: wilderness-w...@googlegroups.com [mailto:wilderness-w...@googlegroups.com]
On Behalf Of Linda Sheehan
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 8:24 PM
To: wilderness-w...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Digest for wilderness-w...@googlegroups.com - 1 Message in 1 Topic
I'm sorry, but I don't understand how to use this googlegroups thing. Did anyone reply to my query about these plants? I couldn't find anything on the list of messages. I did get a reply regarding a trip. Linda S,.
On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 11:35 AM, <wilderness-w...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
Group: http://groups.google.com/group/wilderness-weed-watchers/topics
§ Digest for wilderness-w...@googlegroups.com - 2 Messages in 2 Topics [1 Update]
Linda Sheehan <lws...@gmail.com> Sep 26 12:07PM -0700
Please send some info on the two plants mentioned. I think I saw QALace on
Lake 22 last weekend, but wasn't sure. Also the thistles were abundant. I
need to know the points to look for comparing the thistles with the native
one(s?). Thanks and I was on the PCt near Waptus River and didn't notice
anything on that brief foray into the river bottom of interest. I may be
able to help with the Waptus Lake inspection...weekends of 10/6-7 or
10/13-14?
Thanks, Linda Sheehan
On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 11:20 AM, <wilderness-w...@googlegroups.com
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Group wilderness-weed-watchers.
You can
post via email.
To unsubscribe from this group,
send an empty message.
For more options,
visit this group.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Wilderness Weed Watchers" group.
To post to this group, send email to
wilderness-w...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
wilderness-weed-wa...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit
https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Wilderness Weed Watchers" group.
To post to this group, send email to
wilderness-w...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
wilderness-weed-wa...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.