Cirsium douglasii var. breweri

Brewer's swamp thistle

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Brewer's swamp thistle is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, northern Sierra Nevada, and Modoc Plateau in wet habitats, occasionally on serpentine soils, at elevations of 1,000 to 2,200 meters. Flowering from June to September, this thistle produces purple flowers in heads 2 to 3 centimeters wide with prominent spiny bracts. Growing with robust stems up to 2.5 meters tall, it forms dense clusters in marshy or damp meadow environments. Its cauline leaves are only shallowly lobed, with small spines less than 7 millimeters long, giving the plant a somewhat soft appearance despite its thistle characteristics. The plant's ability to thrive in wet and occasionally serpentine environments makes it a distinctive component of northern California's wetland ecosystems.

Habitat: Wet places, occasionally on serpentine

Bloom period: Jun-Sep

Elevation: 1000-2200 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaR, n SNH, MP

California counties: Humboldt, Butte, Lake, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Shasta, Siskiyou, Sonoma, Trinity, Mendocino, Tehama, Glenn, Plumas, Colusa, Napa, San Benito

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