Cirsium scariosum var. americanum

Dinnerplate thistle

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Dinnerplate thistle is a California native perennial found in the high Sierra Nevada, Warner Mountains, and high Cascade Range in wet to dry meadows, grassy forest openings, and open sites at elevations of 1,600 to 3,500 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces white to pink-tinged flowers in heads 1.5 to 3 centimeters wide, clustered closely around a basal rosette. Growing without a prominent stem, it forms dense clusters with leaves that are glabrous on the upper surface and covered in gray woolly hairs underneath. Its leaves feature distinctive spines 2 to 7 millimeters long, with outer phyllary spines ranging from 1 to 12 millimeters. The involucre has inner phyllary tips that are either entire or expanded into irregular scarious appendages.

Habitat: Wet to dry meadows, grassy forest openings, open sites

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 1600-3500 m

Bioregions: CaRH, SNH, Wrn

California counties: Nevada, Shasta, El Dorado, Sierra, Lassen, Mono, Plumas, Modoc, Mariposa, Tulare, Placer, Tuolumne, Butte, Fresno, Alpine, Inyo, San Diego

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