Cirsium scariosum

Meadow thistle, Meadow Thistle

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Meadow thistle is a California native perennial herb found in open meadows and grasslands at varied elevations. Flowering from June to September, this plant produces white to purple flowers in dense heads 2 to 5 centimeters wide with delicate, feathery petals. Growing 50 to 100 centimeters tall with often short or occasionally bushy-branched stems that are fleshy and sparsely hairy, the plant develops a distinctive rosette of leaves. Its leaves are primarily basal, oblong to oblanceolate, with spiny edges and deep lobes, ranging from unlobed to complex with secondary teeth. The flower heads are typically clustered closely at stem tips, subtended by a basal rosette of leaves, with involucral bracts featuring distinctive spine-tipped edges.

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