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Creeping Thistle

Cirsium arvense

Summary 8

Cirsium arvense is a species of Cirsium, native throughout Europe and northern Asia, and widely introduced elsewhere. The standard English name in its native area is Creeping Thistle.

Range and habitat in illinois 9

Canada Thistle is a common plant that occurs primarily in central and northern Illinois (see Distribution Map). It is apparently less common or absent from many areas of southern Illinois, although it could be spreading southward. Contrary to the common name, this plant is originally from Eurasia. Typical habitats include cropland, abandoned fields, areas along roads and railroads, vacant lots, weedy meadows, and degraded prairies. This plant can invade lawns that are not mowed regularly, and it is aggressive enough to invade many natural habitats.

Description 10

More info for the terms: adventitious, allelopathy, dioecious, forb, fresh, pappus

Canada thistle is a perennial introduced forb. It is distinguished from other thistles by creeping horizontal lateral roots, dense clonal growth, and dioecious habit [49,121,240]. Descriptions and terminology of Canada thistle biology can be confusing or contradictory. For example, descriptions of leaf morphology, stem height, and number of flowering heads may differ somewhat between floras. The following discussion provides ranges of what may be encountered for these characteristics, which will vary under different field conditions. Donald [55] and Moore [150] provide comprehensive reviews of the biology of Canada thistle.

Canada thistle has a deep and wide-spreading root system with a slender taproot and far-creeping lateral roots. It often forms large patches, and individual clones may reach 115 feet (35 m) in diameter [55,75,126,186,248]. Most Canada thistle roots are in the top 0.7 to 2 feet (0.2-0.6 m) of soil, but roots can extend as deep as 6.5 to 22 feet (2-6.75 m) [113,152,157]. Carbohydrate reserves are stored in roots and can range from 3% of root fresh weight during spring to as high as 26% in late fall [137]. Roots are injured when directly exposed to freezing temperatures for 2 hours at -5 °C and killed after 2 hours at -7 °C [192]. Arbuscular mycorrhizal infection of Canada thistle roots has been observed in several studies [17,50,116]. Canada thistle does not form rhizomes, despite this assertion in some literature. Adventitious root buds that may form new adventitious shoots can develop along the root at any location, and at any time of the year with favorable growing conditions [55,85]. New plants can also form from root fragments as short as 0.2 inch (6 mm) [157]. Soil type, structure and horizonation may impact the anatomy, morphology and distribution of Canada thistle roots as well. This suggests that root morphology and distribution are site specific and greenhouse studies of root morphology may not apply [55].

Canada thistle has slender aerial shoots with leafy stems reaching 1 to 6.5 feet (0.3-2 m) tall [42,81,84,176,238]. Leaves are 1.2 to 7 inches (3-18 cm) long and 0.2 to 2.4 inches (0.5-6 cm) wide [81,134,238]. Canada thistle leaf morphology (texture, hairiness, lobing and spininess) can vary considerably, even within a geographical region [84,150]. Canada thistle has numerous aboveground branches that bear several, small flowerheads (0.4 to 0.75 inch (1-2 cm) in diameter) in clusters [49,81,121,126,176,240]. Seeds are 0.09 to 0.2 inch (2.4-5 mm) long, and 0.04 inch (1 mm) in diameter with a pappus of feathery bristles [42,75,176,238,240].

While allelopathy has not been conclusively demonstrated for Canada thistle, this species may produce phytotoxins that inhibit the growth of other plants [55,203]. Fructan metabolism in Canada thistle adds to its competitive advantages by allowing it to grow at relatively cool temperatures [37].

Synonym 11

Serratula arvensis Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 820. 1753; Breea arvensis (Linnaeus) Lessing; Carduus arvensis (Linnaeus) Robson; Cirsium arvense var. argenteum (Peyer ex Vest) Fiori; C. arvense var. horridum Wimmer & Grabowski; C. arvense var. integrifolium Wimmer & Grabowski; C. arvense var. mite Wimmer & Grabowski; C. arvense var. vestitum Wimmer & Grabowski; C. incanum (S. G. Gmelin) Fischer ex M. Bieberstein; C. setosum (Willdenow) Besser ex M. Bieberstein

Range and habitat in illinois 12

Canada Thistle is a common plant that occurs primarily in central and northern Illinois (see Distribution Map). It is apparently less common or absent from many areas of southern Illinois, although it could be spreading southward. Contrary to the common name, this plant is originally from Eurasia. Typical habitats include cropland, abandoned fields, areas along roads and railroads, vacant lots, weedy meadows, and degraded prairies. This plant can invade lawns that are not mowed regularly, and it is aggressive enough to invade many natural habitats.

Fire management considerations 13

More info for the terms: cover, fire management, fire regime, forb, frequency, fuel, fuel loading, natural, phenology, prescribed burn, restoration, severity, wildfire

Abundant evidence of postfire establishment of Canada thistle [16,138,163,193] suggests that managers need to be aware of this possibility, especially if a known seed source is in the area, and take measures to prevent the establishment of Canada thistle after prescribed burning and wildfires. Seeding with aggressive, introduced grasses such as crested wheatgrass, intermediate wheatgrass, orchardgrass, and smooth brome following a prescribed burn in Utah pinyon-juniper communities prevented establishment of Canada thistle, whereas unseeded areas supported Canada thistle seedlings [77]. Similarly, in disturbed forest sites where Canada thistle becomes established, it may be shaded out over time as trees reestablish [56].

Research in this report suggests that response of Canada thistle to fire is variable and it depends on vegetation and site characteristics, as well as frequency, severity and season of burning. Prescribed burns may be effective at stimulating growth of native species and thereby discouraging the growth of invasives such as Canada thistle [182], and may be best if timed to emulate the natural fire regime of a site [44]. Hutchison [105] states that prescribed burning is a "preferred treatment" for the control of Canada thistle, and that late spring burns effectively discourage this species, whereas early spring burns can increase sprouting and reproduction. During the first 3 years of control efforts, he recommends that burns be conducted annually [105], though it is unclear what evidence these recommendations are based on. Season of burn is an important consideration for prescribed burning, as the timing of the burn will determine species composition and cover in the post-fire community [101,102]. Dormant season burning may be a preferred treatment method in some areas, because in many habitats it stimulates growth of native vegetation that subsequently competes with Canada thistle [252]. However, dormant season burning may not be as effective as late spring burning [105]. Controlled studies comparing the effects of these variables in different natural areas are currently lacking in the literature. 

Equations for estimating fuel loading of forb communities including Canada thistle are available [27].

The USDA Forest Service's "Guide to Noxious Weed Prevention Practices" [224] provides several fire management considerations for weed prevention in general that apply to Canada thistle. To prevent invasion after wildfires and prescribed burns, re-establish vegetation on bare ground as soon as possible using either natural recovery or artificial techniques as appropriate to site objectives. When reseeding burn areas, use only certified weed-free seed. Monitor burn sites and associated disturbed areas after the fire and the following spring for emergence of Canada thistle, and treat to eradicate any emergent Canada thistle plants. Regulate human, pack animal, and livestock entry into burned areas at risk for weed invasion until desirable site vegetation has recovered sufficiently to resist weed invasion. When planning a prescribed burn, preinventory the project area and evaluate cover and phenology of any Canada thistle present on or adjacent to the site, and avoid ignition and burning in areas at high risk for Canada thistle establishment or spread due to fire effects. Avoid creating soil conditions that promote weed germination and establishment. Discuss weed status and risks in burn rehabilitation plans. Wildfire managers might consider including weed prevention education and providing weed identification aids during fire training; avoiding known weed infestations when locating fire lines, monitoring camps, staging areas, helibases, etc., to be sure they are kept weed free; taking care that equipment is weed free; incorporating weed prevention into fire rehabilitation plans; and acquiring restoration funding. Additional guidelines and specific recommendations and requirements are available [224].

Nature serve conservation status 14

Rounded Global Status Rank: GNR - Not Yet Ranked

Taxonomy 15

The currently accepted scientific name for Canada thistle is Cirsium arvense (L.)
Scop. (Asteraceae) [42,75,81,92,94,103,107,126,134,177,186,208,232,248]. Canada thistle is extremely variable with regard to leaf division and vestiture,
and it has been treated as several species, numerous varieties, or as a single
highly polymorphic species [81]. Several authors recognize different varieties based
primarily on differences in leaf morphology [42,75,81,94,232,238]. Voss [232] says it is doubtful that the variety designations are
meaningful, and Cronquist and others [42] state that contemporary European
botanists do not consider described variants of the species to be taxonomically
significant.

Cirsium arvense 16

"Cursed Thistle" redirects here. For the medicinal plant, see Cnicus.
Cirsium arvense is a species of Cirsium, native throughout Europe and northern Asia, and widely introduced elsewhere. The standard English name in its native area is Creeping Thistle.[1][2][3]

Contents

Alternative names[edit]

A number of other names have been used in the past, or in other areas including: Canada Thistle,[4] Canadian Thistle, Lettuce From Hell Thistle, California Thistle,[5] Corn Thistle, Cursed Thistle, Field Thistle, Green Thistle, Hard Thistle, Perennial Thistle, Prickly Thistle, Small-flowered Thistle and Way Thistle. The first two names are in wide use in the United States, despite being a misleading designation (it is not of Canadian origin).[6]

Physical characteristics[edit]

Flowering Creeping Thistle

It is a herbaceousperennial plant growing 30–100 cm, forming extensive clonal colonies from an underground root system that sends up numerous erect stems each spring, reaching 1–1.2 m tall (occasionally more).

Stems are green smooth and glabrous (having no Trichome or glaucousness), mostly without spiny wings. The stems often lie partly flat by summer but can stay erect if supported by other vegetation. The leaves are very spiny, lobed, up to 15–20 cm long and 2–3 cm broad (smaller on the upper part of the flower stem).

The inflorescence is 10–22 mm diameter, pink-purple, with all the florets of similar form (no division into disc and ray florets). The flowers are usually dioecious, but not invariably so, with some plants bearing hermaphrodite flowers. The seeds are 4–5 mm long, with a feathery pappus which assists in wind dispersal.[3][7][8] The plant also spreads underground using rhizomes.

There are two varieties:[3]

  • Cirsium arvense var. arvense. Most of Europe. Leaves hairless or thinly hairy beneath.
  • Cirsium arvense var. incanum (Fisch.) Ledeb. Southern Europe. Leaves thickly hairy beneath.

As a subclassification of the "Eudicot" monophyletic group, Cirsium is a "true dicotyledon". The number of Pollen grainfurrows or pores helps classify the flowering plants, with eudicots having three colpi (tricolpate).[9][10]C. arvense is a C3 carbon fixation plant.[11] The C3 plants, originated during Mesozoic and Paleozoic eras, and tend to thrive in areas where sunlight intensity is moderate, temperatures are moderate, and ground water is plentiful. C3 plants lose 97% of the water taken up through their roots to transpiration.[12]

It is a Ruderal species.[13]

Ecology[edit]

The seeds are an important food for Goldfinch and Linnet, and to a lesser extent for other finches.[14] Creeping Thistle foliage is used as a food by over 20 species of Lepidoptera, including the Painted Lady butterfly and the Engrailed, a species of moth, and several species of aphids.[15][16][17]

Status as a weed[edit]

The species is widely considered a weed even where it is native, for example being designated an "injurious weed" in the United Kingdom under the Weeds Act 1959.[18] It is also a serious invasive species in many additional regions where it has been introduced, usually accidentally as a contaminant in cereal crop seeds. It is cited as a noxious weed in several countries; for example Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States. Many countries regulate this plant, or its parts (i.e., seed) as a contaminant of other imported products such as grains for consumption or seeds for propagation. In Canada, Cirsium arvense is classified as a primary noxious weed seed in the Weed Seeds Order 2005 which applies to Canada's Seeds Regulations.[19]

Control methods include:

  • cutting at flower stem extension before the flower buds open to prevent seed spread. Repeated cutting at the same growth stage over several years may "wear down" the plant.
  • Applying herbicide: Herbicides dominated by phenoxy compounds (especially MCPA) saw drastic declines in Thistle infestation in Sweden in the 1950s.[11]MCPA and Clopyralid are approved in some regions.

Orellia ruficauda feeds on Canada thistle has been reported to be the most effective biological control agent for that plant.[20] Its larvae parasitize the seed heads of the plant feeding solely upon fertile seed heads.[21]

The rust species Puccinia obtegens has shown some promise for controlling Canada thistle, but it must be used in conjunction with other control measures to be effective.[22] Also Puccinia punctiformis is used in North America and New Zealand in biological control.[23]Aceria anthocoptes feeds on this species and is considered to be a good potential biological control agent.

Uses[edit]

Like other Cirsium species, the roots are edible, though rarely used, not least because of their propensity to induce flatulence in some people. The taproot is considered the most nutritious.[citation needed] The leaves are also edible, though the spines make their preparation for food too tedious to be worthwhile. The stalks, however, are also edible and more easily de-spined.[24]

The flower portion is also used by the Cherokee Indians to make blowgun darts. [25]

Gallery[edit]

  • Pappus of Cirsium arvense

  • A Creeping Thistle with a "cuckoo spit"

  • A European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) feeding on Creeping Thistle seeds

  • Electron scan micrography of Aceria anthocoptes, a potential biological control agent of the weed, Canada

References[edit]

  1. ^Joint Nature Conservation Committee: Cirsium arvense
  2. ^Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland Database
  3. ^ abcFlora of Northwest Europe: Cirsium arvense
  4. ^Nebraska Department of Agriculture Noxious Weed Program
  5. ^Californian Thistle (Cirsium arvense), Landcare Research, New Zealand
  6. ^Invasive and Problem Plants of the United States: Cirsium arvense
  7. ^Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. ISBN 0-340-40170-2
  8. ^Kay, Q. O. N. (1985). Hermaphrodites and subhermaphrodites in a reputedly dioecious plant, Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop. New Phytol. 100: 457-472. Available online (pdf file).
  9. ^Kenneth R. Sporne (1972). "Some Observations on the Evolution of Pollen Types in Dicotyledons". New Phytologist71 (1): 181–185. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.1972.tb04826.x. 
  10. ^Walter S. Judd and Richard G. Olmstead (2004). "A survey of tricolpate (eudicot) phylogenetic relationships". American Journal of Botany91 (10): 1627–1644. doi:10.3732/ajb.91.10.1627. PMID 21652313.  (full text)
  11. ^ abWeeds and weed management on arable land: an ecological approach Sigurd Håkansson CABI Publishing Series, 2003, ISBN 0-85199-651-5
  12. ^Raven, J.A.; Edwards, D. (2001). "Roots: evolutionary origins and biogeochemical significance". Journal of Experimental Botany52 (90001): 381–401. doi:10.1093/jexbot/52.suppl_1.381. PMID 11326045. 
  13. ^p80
  14. ^Cramp, S., & Perrins, C. M. (1994). The Birds of the Western Palearctic. Vol. VIII: Crows to Finches. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  15. ^Finnish Lepidoptera Cirsium arvense
  16. ^The Ecology of Commanster: Cirsium arvense
  17. ^Ecological Flora of the British Isles: Phytophagous Insects for Cirsium arvense
  18. ^DEFRA: Identification of injurious weeds
  19. ^Weed Seeds Order 2005, Canada Gazette Part I, Vol. 139, No. 9
  20. ^Moore 1975, Maw 1976
  21. ^Lalonde
  22. ^Turner et al. 1980
  23. ^R. C. French, A. R. Lightfield: Induction of Systemic Aecial Infection in Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense) by Teliospores of Puccinia punctiformis. In: Phytopathology. Band 80, Nr. 8, 1990, S. 872–877, DOI:10.1094/Phyto-80-872
  24. ^Plants for a Future: Cirsium arvense
  25. ^http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySjOxBJ0AEQ

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Matt Lavin, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://www.flickr.com/photos/35478170@N08/4972345384
  2. AnRo0002, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/20120923Distel_Hockenheimer_Rheinbogen3.jpg
  3. AnRo0002, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/20120923Distel_Hockenheimer_Rheinbogen4.jpg
  4. (c) Frank Vincentz, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Herne_-_Kulturpark_Unser_Fritz_-_Distel_02_ies.jpg
  5. (c) Frank Vincentz, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Herne_-_Kulturpark_Unser_Fritz_-_Distel_03_ies.jpg
  6. Me, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Akkerdistel_R0019836.JPG
  7. Gary Houston Ghouston 17:31, 9 October 2005 (UTC), no known copyright restrictions (public domain), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c7/20050716-004-thistle.jpg/460px-20050716-004-thistle.jpg
  8. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirsium_arvense
  9. (c) John Hilty, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/29446448
  10. Public Domain, http://eol.org/data_objects/24628137
  11. (c) Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/19814462
  12. (c) John Hilty, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/29446449
  13. Public Domain, http://eol.org/data_objects/24628145
  14. (c) NatureServe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/29024628
  15. Public Domain, http://eol.org/data_objects/24259863
  16. (c) Unknown, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/31774744

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