Cirsium undulatum

Wavyleaf thistle

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Wavyleaf thistle is a California native perennial found in the Modoc Plateau in disturbed areas, dry grasslands, and open scrublands at elevations below 1,600 meters. Flowering from May to October, this thistle produces white to pale lavender or pink flowers in heads 2.5 to 4.5 centimeters wide, arranged in flat-topped clusters. Growing 20 to 230 centimeters tall with white-tomentose stems that are generally simple at the base and few-branched toward the top, it emerges from runner roots. Its leaves are distinctively gray-tomentose on the upper surface and white-gray-tomentose underneath, with lower leaves 15 to 30 centimeters long, elliptic to oblanceolate, and shallowly lobed with spiny margins. The plant's phyllaries have distinctive spreading to reflexed tip-spines 2 to 5 millimeters long, with a sticky-resinous ridge along the midrib.

Habitat: Disturbed areas, dry grassland, open scrubland

Bloom period: May-Oct

Elevation: < 1600 m

Bioregions: MP

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