Cirsium arizonicum

Arizona thistle

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Arizona thistle is a native perennial herb found in southwestern desert regions in open rocky habitats at elevations of 1,500 to 2,500 meters. Flowering from June to September, this plant produces lavender to pink-purple flowers in heads 3 to 4 centimeters long with distinctive spiny involucres. Growing 20 to 150 centimeters tall with often multiple stems from a woody base, it develops thinly tomentose stems that become somewhat glabrous with age. Its lower leaves are large, oblong-obovate, and deeply lobed with spiny edges, measuring 10 to 20 centimeters long and tapering to spiny-winged leaf stalks. The fruit is small, 3.5 to 7 millimeters long, with a feathery pappus 17 to 28 millimeters in length.

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.