Cirsium quercetorum

Brownie thistle, Brownie Thistle

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Brownie thistle is a California native perennial herb found in coastal and central California bioregions including northern Coast Ranges, San Francisco Bay Area, and southern Coast Ranges in open grasslands and woodlands at elevations below 500 meters. Flowering from April to August, this plant produces white to purple flowers in clustered heads 2.5 to 5 centimeters wide with delicate, tightly appressed phyllary spines. Growing as a low, rounded mound 5 to 20 centimeters tall with sparse branching, it has runner roots that create compact clusters. Its leaves are distinctively variable, with lower leaves up to 35 centimeters long, partially lobed, and covered in gray woolly tomemtum on the underside and lighter green on top. The plant's small spines and compact growth form make it a charming, low-profile thistle characteristic of California's coastal grassland environments.

Habitat: Open places, grassland, woodland

Bloom period: Apr-Aug

Elevation: < 500 m

Bioregions: c&amps NCo, NCoRO, n&ampc CCo, SnFrB, SCoRO.

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