''Cirsium arvense'' is a perennial species of
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
in the family
Asteraceae
The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...
, native throughout
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and western
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
, northern Africa and widely
introduced elsewhere.
[Joint Nature Conservation Committee]
''Cirsium arvense''
The standard English name in its native area is creeping thistle.
[Botanical Society of Britain and Irelan]
It is also commonly known as Canada thistle and field thistle.
The plant is beneficial for pollinators that rely on nectar. It also was a top producer of nectar sugar in a 2016 study in Britain, with a second-place ranking due to a production per floral unit of ().
Alternative names
A number of other names are used in other areas or have been used in the past, including: Canadian thistle, lettuce from hell thistle, California thistle, corn thistle, cursed thistle, field thistle, green thistle, hard thistle, perennial thistle, prickly thistle, setose thistle, small-flowered thistle, way thistle, and stinger-needles. Canada and Canadian thistle are in wide use in the United States, despite being a misleading designation (it is not of Canadian origin).
Description
''Cirsium arvense'' is a
C3 carbon fixation
carbon fixation is the most common of three metabolic pathways for carbon fixation in photosynthesis, along with and CAM. This process converts carbon dioxide and ribulose bisphosphate (RuBP, a 5-carbon sugar) into two molecules of 3-phosph ...
plant.
[ The C3 plants originated during ]Mesozoic
The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ...
and Paleozoic
The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon.
The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838
by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...
eras, and tend to thrive in areas where sunlight intensity is moderate, temperatures are moderate, and ground water is plentiful. plants lose 97% of the water taken up through their roots to transpiration.
Creeping thistle is a herbaceous
Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials.
Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous"
The fourth edition of t ...
perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...
growing up to 150 cm, forming extensive clonal colonies
A clonal colony or genet is a group of genetically identical individuals, such as plants, fungi, or bacteria, that have grown in a given location, all originating vegetatively, not sexually, from a single ancestor. In plants, an individual in s ...
from thickened roots that send up numerous erect shoots during the growing season. It is a ruderal species
A ruderal species is a plant species that is first to colonize disturbed lands. The disturbance may be natural for example, wildfires or avalanchesor the consequences of human activities, such as construction ( of roads, of buildings, mining, et ...
.
Given its adaptive nature, ''Cirsium arvense'' is one of the worst invasive weeds worldwide. Through comparison of its genetic expressions, the plant evolves differently with respect to where it has established itself. Differences can be seen in their R-protein mediated defenses, sensitivities to abiotic stresses, and developmental timing.
Taxonomy
''Cirsium arvense'' is placed in the subtribe Carduinae, tribe Cardueae of the family Asteraceae. Unlike other species in the same genus, it is dioecious
Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...
, although male plants sometimes produce bisexual flowers. It also differs from other native North American species in having large roots and multiple small flower heads on a branched stem.
Underground network
Its underground structure consists of four types, 1) long, thick, horizontal roots, 2) long, thick, vertical roots, 3) short, fine shoots, and 4) vertical, underground stems. Though asserted in some literature, creeping thistle does not form rhizomes. Root buds form adventitiously on the thickened roots of creeping thistle, and give rise to new shoots. Shoots can also arise from the lateral buds on the underground portion of regular shoots, particularly if the shoots are cut off through mowing or when stem segments are buried.
Shoots and leaves
Stems are 30–150 cm, slender green, and freely branched, smooth and glabrous
Glabrousness (from the Latin ''glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...
(having no trichomes
Trichomes (); ) are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants, algae, lichens, and certain protists. They are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae. A covering of any kind of hair on a plant ...
or glaucousness
''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), g ...
), mostly without spiny wings. Leaves are alternate
Alternative or alternate may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki''
* ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film
* ''The Alternative ...
on the stem with their base sessile and clasping or shortly decurrent
''Decurrent'' (sometimes decurring) is a term used in botany and mycology to describe plant or fungal parts that extend downward.
In botany, the term is most often applied to leaf blades that partly wrap or have wings around the stem or petio ...
. The leaves
A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...
are very spiny, lobed, and up to 15–20 cm long and 2–3 cm broad (smaller on the upper part of the flower stem).
Flower head fragrance
Every plant species has a unique floral fragrance. The fragrance that ''C. arvense'' emits attracts both pollinators and florivores containing compounds that attract each respectively. Non-native honeybees are shown to have the highest visitation rate, following other bee species in the genera ''Halictus'' and ''Lasioglossum''. Hover flies are also commonly seen pollinating the flower heads of this plant. Florivores such as beetles and grasshoppers are commonly seen as well. The compounds found in the fragrance may not be in the highest abundance but they are highly attractive. P-anisaldehyde is found in less than 1%, yet it attracts pollinators such as honey bees. This is thought to be the result of additive and synergistic effects from the blend increasing the attraction to the plant. After pollination, it can be seen that fragrance emission decreases in ''C.arvense''. This is regulated through a regulatory feedback mechanism depending on the pollination status of the plant. This mechanism has only been observed in pistillate plants for dioecious ''C. arvense''. Fragrance emission increases with age.
The fragrance contains several compounds that attract diverse insects. Looking at certain butterflies species, it can be seen that the fragrance blend is highly attractive to them, being sensitive to their antennae. High antennal response are seen in consequence to the phenylacetaldehyde as well as the terpenes (oxoisophoroneoxide, oxoisophorone, and dihydrooxoisophorone) found in the blend. This was seen in both natural plants emitting the fragrance and emitting the scent synthetically. It is believed that general arousal can be stimulated through exposure of a single compound, whereas the accumulated exposure of all the compounds influence the foraging behaviour of the butterflies.
Flowers and seeds
The inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...
compound cyme is in diameter, pink-purple, with all the florets of similar form (no division into disc and ray florets). The flowers are usually dioecious
Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...
, but not invariably so, with some plants bearing hermaphrodite flowers. The seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...
s are 4–5 mm long, with a feathery pappus which assists in wind dispersal.[Flora of Northwest Europe]
''Cirsium arvense''
[Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). ''Flora of Britain and Northern Europe''. ][Kay, Q. O. N. (1985). Hermaphrodites and subhermaphrodites in a reputedly dioecious plant, ''Cirsium arvense'' (L.) Scop. ''New Phytol.'' 100: 457-472. Availabl]
online
(pdf file). One to 5 flower heads occur per branch, with plants in very favourable conditions producing up to 100 heads per shoot. Each head contains an average of 100 florets. Average seed production per plant has been estimated at 1530. More seeds are produced when male and female plants are closer together, as flowers are primarily insect-pollinated. The plant can bloom from seed in a year then subsequently the seeds produced can emerge in the following year.
Varieties
Variation in leaf characters (texture, vestiture, segmentation, spininess) is the basis for determining creeping thistle varieties. According to Flora of Northwest Europe[ the two ]varieties
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
are:
*''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.
The Biology of Canadian Weeds: ''Cirsium arvense'' list four varieties
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
:
*''Cirsium arvense'' var. ''vestitum (''Wimm. & Grab). Leaves gray-tomentose below.
*''Cirsium arvense'' var. ''integrifolium'' ''(''Wimm. & Grab). Leaves all entire or the upper leaves entire and the lower stem leaves shallowly and regularly pinnatifid
Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and i ...
or undulating.
*''Cirsium arvense'' var. ''arvense''. Leaves shallowly to deeply pinnatifid
Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and i ...
, often asymmetrical.
*''Cirsium arvense'' var. ''horridum'' (Wimm. & Grab). Leaves thick, subcoriaceous, surface wavy, marginal spines long and stout.
Ecology
The seeds are an important food for the goldfinch and the linnet
The common linnet (''Linaria cannabina'') is a small passerine bird of the finch family, Fringillidae. It derives its common name and the scientific name, ''Linaria'', from its fondness for hemp seeds and flax seeds—flax being the English n ...
, and to a lesser extent for other finch
The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usua ...
es. Creeping thistle foliage is used as a food by over 20 species of Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...
, including the painted lady
''Vanessa cardui'' is the most widespread of all butterfly species. It is commonly called the painted lady, or formerly in North America the cosmopolitan.
Description
File:Vanessa cardui MHNT CUT 2013 3 14 Pontfaverger-Moronvilliers Dos. ...
butterfly and the engrailed moth
Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...
, and several species of aphid
Aphids are small sap-sucking insects and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white woolly aphids. A t ...
s.
The flowers are visited by a wide variety of insects such as bees, moths, wasps and beetles (the generalised pollination syndrome
Pollination syndromes are suites of flower traits that have evolved in response to natural selection imposed by different pollen vectors, which can be abiotic (wind and water) or biotic, such as birds, bees, flies, and so forth through a process c ...
).
Status as a weed
The species is widely considered a weed
A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place", or a plant growing where it is not wanted.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. ...
even where it is native, for example being designated an "injurious weed" in the United Kingdom under the Weeds Act 1959
The Weeds Act 1959 (''7 & 8 Eliz. II c. 54'') is a Consolidation Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Section 1(1) states: "Where the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (in this Act referred to as " the Minister ...
. It is also a serious invasive species
An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...
in many additional regions where it has been introduced, usually accidentally as a contaminant in cereal
A cereal is any Poaceae, grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, Cereal germ, germ, and bran. Cereal Grain, grain crops are grown in greater quantit ...
crop seeds. It is cited as a noxious weed
A noxious weed, harmful weed or injurious weed is a weed that has been designated by an agricultural or other governing authority as a plant that is injurious to agricultural or horticultural crops, natural habitats or ecosystems, or humans or liv ...
in several countries; for example Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, and the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. 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, ''C. arvense'' is classified as a primary noxious weed seed in the Weed Seeds Order 2005 which applies to Canada's Seeds Regulations.
Control
Organic
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.
Growing forages such as alfalfa can help control the species as a weed by frequently cutting the alfalfa to add nutrients to the soil, the weeds also get cut, and have a harder time re-establishing themselves, which reduces the shoot density.
'' Orellia ruficauda'' feeds on Canada thistle and has been reported to be the most effective biological control agent for that plant. Its larvae parasitize the seed heads, feeding solely upon fertile seed heads.
The weevil ''Larinus planus
''Larinus planus'' is an insect of the Curculionidae ("true" weevil) family. They are oval shaped, dark brown or black, and about long. While native to Europe, it is also common in North America. It feeds on floral buds, primarily of thistles, ...
'' also feeds on the thistle and has been used as a control agent in Canada. One larva of the species can consume up to 95% of seeds in a particular flower bud. However, use of this weevil has had a damaging effect on other thistle species as well, include some that are threatened. It may therefore not be a desirable control agent. It is unclear if the government continues to use this weevil to control Canada thistles or not.
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. Also ''Puccinia punctiformis
''Puccinia'' is a genus of fungi. All species in this genus are obligate plant pathogens and are known as rusts. The genus contains about 4000 species.
The genus name of ''Puccinia'' is in honour of Tommaso Puccini (died 1735), who was an Italia ...
'' is used in North America and New Zealand in biological control. In 2013, in four countries in three continents, epidemics of systemic disease caused by this rust fungus could be routinely and easily established. The procedure for establishing this control agent involves three simple steps and is a long-term sustainable control solution that is free and does not involve herbicides. Plants systemically diseased with the rust gradually but surely die. Reductions in thistle density were estimated, in 10 sites in the U.S., Greece, and Russia, to average 43%, 64%, and 81% by 18, 30, and 42 months, respectively, after a single application of spores of the fungus.
''Aceria anthocoptes
''Aceria anthocoptes'', also known as the russet mite, rust mite, thistle mite or the Canada thistle mite, is a species of mite that belongs to the family Eriophyidae. It was first described by Alfred Nalepa in 1892.
''Aceria anthocoptes'' can ...
'' feeds on this species and is considered to be a good potential biological control agent.
Chemical
Applying herbicide: Herbicides dominated by phenoxy compounds (especially MCPA
MCPA (2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid) is a powerful, selective, widely used phenoxy herbicide. The pure compound is a brown-colored powder. MCPA has been extensively used in agriculture to control broad-leaf weeds as a growth regulator prima ...
) caused drastic declines in thistle infestation in Sweden in the 1950s.
Weeds and weed management on arable land: an ecological approach
' Sigurd Håkansson CABI Publishing Series, 2003, MCPA and clopyralid
Clopyralid (3,6-dichloro-2-pyridinecarboxylic acid) is a selective herbicide used for control of broadleaf weeds, especially thistles and clovers. Clopyralid is in the picolinic acid family of herbicides, which also includes aminopyralid, pic ...
are approved in some regions. Glyphosate is a non-selective herbicide that can be used when the plant has grown a few inches tall, where the herbicide can be absorbed by the leaf surfaces.
Crop tolerance and weed control ratings were conducted in the spring of 2012, and the Prepass herbicide by DOW AgroSciences was found to be most effective at controlling the species as a weed problem in alfalfa fields.
Uses
Like other ''Cirsium'' species, the roots are edible, though rarely used, not in the least because of their propensity to induce flatulence
Flatulence, in humans, is the expulsion of gas from the intestines via the anus, commonly referred to as farting. "Flatus" is the medical word for gas generated in the stomach or bowels. A proportion of intestinal gas may be swallowed environm ...
in some people. The taproot
A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproo ...
is considered the most nutritious part. 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 despined.[Plants for a Future]
''Cirsium arvense''
/ref> Bruichladdich distillery
Bruichladdich distillery ( ; ) is a distillery on the Rhinns of the isle of Islay in Scotland. The distillery produces mainly single malt Scotch whisky, but has also offered artisanal gin. It is owned by Rémy Cointreau and is one of nine ...
on Isle of Islay
Islay ( ; gd, Ìle, sco, Ila) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll just south west of Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The island's capital i ...
lists creeping thistle as one of the 22 botanical forages used in their gin, The Botanist.
The feathery pappus is also used by the Cherokee to fletch blowgun darts.
References
External links
Tiley, G.E.D. "Biological Flora of the British Isles: ''Cirsium arvense'' (L.) Scop." Journal of Ecology 98, no. 4 (2010): 938-983.
Species Profile- Canada Thistle (''Cirsium arvense'')
National Invasive Species Information Center, United States National Agricultural Library
The United States National Agricultural Library (NAL) is one of the world's largest agricultural research libraries, and serves as a national library of the United States and as the library of the United States Department of Agriculture. Located ...
. Lists general information and resources for Canada thistle.
Profile: Canada Thistle (''Cirsium arvense'')
Photos, Drawings, Text. (''Wild Plants of Winnipeg'' from Nature Manitoba)
{{Taxonbar, from=Q341600
arvense
Edible plants
Flora of Asia
Flora of Europe
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Taxa named by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli