Cirsium remotifolium var. odontolepis

Pacific fringed thistle

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Pacific fringed thistle is a California native perennial found in northwestern California and northern San Francisco Bay bioregions in grassy areas, woodland openings, and forests, occasionally on serpentine at elevations below 1,850 meters. Flowering from June to September, this thistle produces cream or purple flowers with blossoms 17 to 25 millimeters long featuring distinctive fringed phyllaries. Growing with erect stems that form open, branching inflorescences, it develops a robust herbaceous structure typical of thistles. Its leaves are deeply lobed and divided, with irregular serrated edges that contribute to its distinctive thistle-like appearance. The flower heads feature graduated phyllaries with expanded, scarious margins that are irregularly toothed, giving the plant its characteristic fringed texture.

Habitat: Grassy areas, openings in woodland, forests, occasionally on serpentine

Bloom period: Jun-Sep

Elevation: < 1850 m

Bioregions: NW, n SnFrB

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