Flora of New Zealand Series

woolly-headed thistle

Taprooted perennial. Stems branched above, with coarse cobwebby hairs especially below, (25)-60-130-(200) cm tall, strongly ribbed, not winged. Lvs lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, shallowly pinnatifid, green above, whitish beneath, (6)-10-25-(30) × (2)-3-7-(10) cm, with sparse soft multicellular hairs above and dense cobwebby tomentum beneath; lobes deltoid; prickles pale, 5-10 mm long. Capitula ovoid, waisted at flowering, erect, 2.5-3.5 × 2.5-3 cm, subsessile, in clusters of 3-4 or rarely solitary. Outer involucral bracts deltoid to lanceolate, with cobwebby hairs; apex acuminate, with strong spine 3-4-(6) mm long, suberect or erecto-patent. Inner involucral bracts linear, with short fine bristly hairs at least on margins; apex acute, not spinous, erect. Corolla purplish red, 18-25 mm long; lobes c. 3 mm long. Style not or barely exserted beyond corolla lobes. Achenes pale, narrowly obovoid, 3-4 × c. 1.5 mm; pappus 15-25 mm long; cilia on pappus bristles 3-5 mm long.

N.: Hawke's Bay (Tutira), Wairarapa, Wellington (Ruahine Range, Tararua Range, Rimutaka Range, Upper Hutt Valley).

W. North America 1899

Grassland, pastures, river flats, roadsides, waste land.

FL Dec-Jan-(Feb) FT (Dec)-Jan-Feb.

The hairy stems and larger heads of C. brevistylum distinguish it from C. arvense, and it lacks the winged stems characteristic of C. vulgare and C. palustre. Its shallowly lobed lvs distinguish it from C. vulgare which has deeply pinnatifid lvs with characteristic bristly hairs above.

C. brevistylum has also been referred to in N.Z. as Carduus eriophorus, Cnicus eriophorus, and as Cirsium eriophorum.