Carduus tenuiflorus Curtis
winged thistle
Annual, or rarely biennial. Stems usually branched above, (20)-60-100- (150) cm tall, with sparse multicellular hairs below, becoming cobwebby above, ribbed; wing narrowed to 2-3-(10) mm wide between clusters of teeth; teeth 8-15-(30) mm long, in broadly deltoid to palmatifid clusters; spines 4-7-(10) mm long. Lvs obovate to narrowly deltoid to oblong, pinnatifid, (5)-10-30-(40) × (2)-5-15 cm, glabrescent or with papillae or multicellular hairs above, with cobwebby hairs beneath; basal lvs with (4)-5-8 pairs of lobes; lobes palmatifid-dentate; teeth spine-tipped; spines pale, 2-5-(8) mm long. Capitula erect or suberect, falling at fruiting, 15-20 × 7-15 mm, sessile or subsessile in compact terminal and subterminal clusters of 3-8-(12); peduncle 1-2 mm diam. Involucre cylindric to obconic. Outer and middle involucral bracts narrowly lanceolate to narrowly deltoid, evenly tapered to erect or erecto-patent spine, without distinct claw and limb, with glandular papillae, ciliolate, rarely with sparse cobwebby hairs; apex pale green or scarious; midvein raised in upper ⅓. Inner involucral bracts linear, with glandular papillae below, weakly 1-(3)-veined above; apex acute, scarious, often pink. Corolla pale pinkish purple, 11-13 mm long; lobes 5-6 mm long; swelling at throat of tube ellipsoid, < 2-(3) mm long. Achenes brown, ellipsoid, 3.5-4 × 1.5-2 mm; pappus 10-12 mm long.
N.: Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Manawatu, Wairarapa, Wellington; S.: Nelson (Boulder Bank), Marlborough, Canterbury, Otago, Southland; K., Ch.
W. Europe 1883
Pasture, roadsides, waste land, sand dunes, tussock grassland.
FL (Sep)-Nov-Dec- (Mar) FT (Sep)-Nov-Feb-(Apr).
C. tenuiflorus is very similar to C. pycnocephalus (see comments under that sp.). Typically it has 3-8-(12) capitula in apical clusters, with occasional clusters of 2-3 capitula in the axils of upper stem lvs. The involucral bracts have an acute suberect pale green or scarious apex and the midvein is thickened only in the upper ⅓ of the bract. The basal lvs generally have (4)-5-8 pairs of leaflets, and the wings on the stem are broad.
