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Arizona Thistle

Asteraceae Cirsium arizonicum

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Main Order Diagram | Plant Order List

Asteraceae Family

Cirsium Genus

Location

Native to the southwestern United States, including Arizona, southeastern California, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah.
This specimen (image) was found in Southern Utah.

Physical Description

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It is a herbaceous plant that can be either biennial or perennial, reaching 30–150 cm in height. The spiny leaves are oblong-obovate with pinate lobes; the basal leaves are larger, 10–40 cm long, while leaves on the upper stem can be only 3 cm long. The inflorescence is 3–4 cm in length and 1.5–2 cm diameter, red to pink or purple, with all the florets of similar form (no division into disc and ray florets); individual plants are very variable in the number of inflorescences produced, from one to 100.