Cirsium arizonicum var. tenuisectum

Desert mountain thistle

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Desert mountain thistle is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native perennial found in the eastern Desert Mountains, including Clark and New York Mountains, in washes, rocky slopes, scrubland, and woodland at elevations of 1,600 to 2,300 meters. Flowering from July to November, this plant produces pink to red-purple flowers with blossoms 25 to 35 millimeters long, featuring delicate tubular petals. Growing with tall, robust stems reaching up to 1 meter, it develops a distinctive thistle-like structure with sharp spines. Its leaves are deeply divided, covered in cobwebby-like hair on the underside, with main spines measuring 5 to 30 millimeters long. The fruit develops with characteristic thistle-like features, with style tips 1 to 2 millimeters in length.

Habitat: Washes, rocky slopes, scrubland, woodland

Bloom period: Jul-Nov

Elevation: 1600-2300 m

Bioregions: e DMtns (Clark, New York mtns)

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo

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