Colorado Wildbuds

Cirsium perplexans

Cirsium perplexans, Divide Rd., Uncompahgre Plateau, Mesa Co. 4588

Cirsium perplexans, Divide Rd., Uncompahgre Plateau, Mesa Co. 4542

Cirsium perplexans, Divide Rd., Uncompahgre Plateau, Mesa Co. 4540

Cirsium perplexans, Divide Rd., Uncompahgre Plateau, Mesa Co. 4581

Basal leaf, Cirsium perplexans, Divide Rd., Uncompahgre Plateau, Mesa Co. 4546

Stem leaf, Cirsium perplexans, Divide Rd., Uncompahgre Plateau, Mesa Co. 4578

Cirsium perplexans, Divide Rd., Uncompahgre Plateau, Mesa Co. 4570

Scientific Name	Cirsium perplexans	USDA PLANTS Symbol	CIPE5
Common Name	Rocky Mountain Thistle, Adobe Hills Thistle	ITIS Taxonomic Serial No.	36399
Family	Asteraceae (Sunflower)	SEINet Reference	Click Here
Description	Life zones and habitat: Shrublands and foothills (5000 to 8000 ft.); shale or clay soils in open sites in areas of woodlands, sagebrush scrub and roadsides. Plant: Erect perennial or biennial 8 to 40 inches tall, one or more reddish stems with few to many branches, thinly-covered with soft hairs. Leaves: Lower leaves oblanceolate, upper lanceolate and clasping; from 6 to 12 inches long and 0.8 to 2.4 inches wide; blades often unlobed and sometimes pinnatifid to about halfway to the middle with lobes broadly separated or dentate; upper leaves becoming small and bract-like; leaf surfaces with thin wooly hairs; slender, weak yellow spines. Inflorescence: Few to many flower heads in an openly-branched array; rose or reddish-purple composite flower heads (rays absent) about 1-1/4 inches tall and wide; layered phyllaries are spreading to reflexed, with erose (fringed) edges, a white glutinose ridge in the middle and short spines. Bloom Period: June and July. References: "Flora of Colorado" by Jennifer Ackerfield, Flora of North America, Colorado Rare Plant Guide and Thistles of Colorado.	BONAP Distribution Map Map Color Key	Colorado Status: Native Rare

Banner photo: Castilleja rhexifolia and a brewing storm over the San Juan Mountains