Echinops sphaerocephalus

Globe thistle

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Globe thistle is a naturalized perennial found in the Modoc Plateau in disturbed places at elevations around 1,300 meters. Flowering from June to September, this plant produces white to pale blue flowers in spherical heads 3 to 6 centimeters in diameter with distinctive spiny, fringed involucre bracts. Growing with tall stems one to two meters high that are much-branched and glandular, it has an impressive and robust appearance. Its oblong-elliptic leaves have lanceolate to triangular lobes, with a cobwebby-tomentose undersurface and green, glandular upper surface that clasps the stem. The fruit is 7 to 8 millimeters long, densely covered with appressed hairs.

Habitat: Disturbed places

Bloom period: Jun-Sep

Elevation: +- 1300 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.