Introductory
SPECIES: Cirsium neomexicanum | Lavender Thistle 



ABBREVIATION : 
CIRNEO

SYNONYMS : 
   C. arcuum A. Nels [14]
   C. utahense (Muhl. ex. W.Barton) Petrak [17]


SCS PLANT CODE : 
   CINE


COMMON NAMES : 
   lavender thistle
   New Mexico thistle


TAXONOMY : 
The currently accepted scientific name for lavender thistle is Cirsium
neomexicanum Gray [8,14,19].  It is a member of the sunflower family
(Asteraceae).  The following varieties are recognized [19]:

     Cirsium neomexicanum var. neomexicanum
     Cirsium neomexicanum  var. utahense (Petrak) Welsh


LIFE FORM : 
Forb

FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS : 
No special status

OTHER STATUS : 
NO-ENTRY


COMPILED BY AND DATE : 
Julie Tesky, January 1994


LAST REVISED BY AND DATE : 
NO-ENTRY


AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION : 
Tesky, Julie L. 1994. Cirsium neomexicanum. In: Remainder of Citation

DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Cirsium neomexicanum | Lavender Thistle 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Lavender thistle is found in the desert areas of southern California,
Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and northern Mexico [6,8,14].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES29  Sagebrush
   FRES30  Desert shrub
   FRES35  Pinyon - juniper


STATES : 
     AZ  CA  CO  NM  UT  MEXICO


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     BAND  CHIR  COLM  CORO  DEVA  FOBO
     GLCA  GRCA  LAME  MEVE  ORPI  SAGU


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    7  Lower Basin and Range
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K023  Juniper - pinyon woodland
   K024  Juniper steppe woodland
   K039  Blackbrush
   K040  Saltbush - greasewood
   K041  Creosotebush
   K042  Creosotebush - bursage
   K044  Creosotebush - tarbush


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   238  Western juniper
   239  Pinyon - juniper


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Lavender thistle is commonly found in creosotebush (Larrea tridentata)
scrub, blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima) scrub, shadscale (Atriplex
confertifolia), sagebrush (Artemisia spp.), salt desert shrub, mountain
brush, Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) woodlands, and pinyon (Pinus
spp.)-juniper (Juniperus spp.) woodlands [12,16,19].  Lavender thistle
is not listed as a dominant or codominant in the available literature.

VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Cirsium neomexicanum | Lavender Thistle 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Thistle (Cirsium spp.) seeds are the favorite food of goldfinches and
many other birds.  The flowers provide nectar and pollen for bees [21].


PALATABILITY : 
NO-ENTRY


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


COVER VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
NO-ENTRY


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
The Navajo and Hopi Indians use thistles (Cirsium spp.) for medicinal
purposes [8].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Lavender thistle is not a weedy species, unlike many other species of
thistle [5].  

Many insect species feed on lavender thistle.  It hosts three
endophagous insect species.  Only the pyralid moth attacks the flowering
heads.  The artichoke plume moth attacks the stems and crowns of
lavender thistle.  Phytophagous insects associated with lavender thistle
have been listed [5].

BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Cirsium neomexicanum | Lavender Thistle 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Lavender thistle is a native biennial herb [5,12,19].  It is robust,
erect or ascending, moderately to much branched, and 5 to 8 feet
(1.5-2.5 m) tall [14].  The basal leaves are oblong and form a rosette 2
to 10 inches (5-25 cm) broad [14,19].  The petioles of the lower leaves
are narrowly winged and spiny and the upper leaves are sessile [14].
The dead stalks of the previous year persist for some time [19].  The
flowering heads are solitary to few, at the end of a stem or branch [6].
The fruit is an achene with a bristly pappus 0.6 to 0.8 inch (1.5-2 cm)
long [14].  It has a taproot.


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Hemicryptophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Information is not available regarding the regeneration processes of
lavender thistle.  Because it is a biennial herb it probably only
regenerates by seed.  The genus Cirsium is widespread and variable so
inferences about lavender thistle from other Cirsium species may not be
valid.


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Lavender thistle is commonly found in sandy to gravelly washes, and on
dry, rocky slopes, mesas, canyon sides, and plains and foothills
[5,6,12,14,18].  It occurs at the following elevations:

southern California - 3,000 to 6,000 feet (900-1,800 m) [12]
Colorado - 4,500 to 6,500 feet (1,400-2,000 m) [6]
Arizona - 1,000 to 6,500 feet (300-2,000 m) [8]


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
NO-ENTRY


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Lavender thistle usually flowers from April to May [5,12].

FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Cirsium neomexicanum | Lavender Thistle 



FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS : 
Regeneration of lavender thistle after fire is not described in the
available literature.  However, it probably can colonize burned areas
via seeds.

Fire frequency in the communities where lavender thistle occurs is
generally low.  In creosotebush scrub communities, fires generally occur
only in years when exceptionally heavy winter rains have produced
abnormally high numbers of annuals.  Fires are also rare in blackbrush
communities; however, these communities have been known to burn under
conditions of high temperature, high wind velocity, and low relative
humidity.  Shadscale communities rarely burn [7].  Pinyon-juniper
communities historically burned every 10 to 30 years.  Where livestock
grazing has reduced grass cover and accelerated erosion, fire frequency
has decreased [20].


POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY : 
NO-ENTRY

FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Cirsium neomexicanum | Lavender Thistle 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Information is not available regarding the immediate effects of fire on
lavender thistle.  Most fires probably kill second-year plants of this
biennial herb.  First-year plants may survive late-season or
low-severity fires.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
NO-ENTRY


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
NO-ENTRY

REFERENCES
SPECIES: Cirsium neomexicanum | Lavender Thistle 



REFERENCES : 

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       reptiles, and amphibians by BLM physiographic regions and A.W. Kuchler's
       associations for the eleven western states. Tech. Note 301. Denver, CO:
       U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. 169 p. 
       [434]

 .  Dittberner, Phillip L.; Olson, Michael R. 1983. The plant information
       network (PIN) data base: Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, Utah, and
       Wyoming. FWS/OBS-83/86. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior,
       Fish and Wildlife Service. 786 p.  [806]

 .  Eyre, F. H., ed. 1980. Forest cover types of the United States and
       Canada. Washington, DC: Society of American Foresters. 148 p.  [905]

 .  Garrison, George A.; Bjugstad, Ardell J.; Duncan, Don A.; [and others].
       1977. Vegetation and environmental features of forest and range
       ecosystems. Agric. Handb. 475. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
       Agriculture, Forest Service. 68 p.  [998]

 .  Goeden, Richard D.; Ricker, Donald W. 1987. Phytophagous insect faunas
       of native Cirsium thistles, C. mohavense, C. neomexicanum, & C. nidulum,
       in the Mojave Desert of southern California. Annals of the Entomological
       Society of America. 80: 161-175.  [22162]

 .  Harrington, H. D. 1964. Manual of the plants of Colorado. 2d ed.
       Chicago: The Swallow Press Inc. 666 p.  [6851]

 .  Humphrey, Robert R. 1974. Fire in the deserts and desert grassland of
       North America. In: Kozlowski, T. T.; Ahlgren, C. E., eds. Fire and
       ecosystems. New York: Academic Press: 365-400.  [14064]

 .  Kearney, Thomas H.; Peebles, Robert H.; Howell, John Thomas; McClintock,
       Elizabeth. 1960. Arizona flora. 2d ed. Berkeley, CA: University of
       California Press. 1085 p.  [6563]

 .  Klinkhamer, Peter G. L.; DeJong, Tom J. 1993. Cirsium vulgare (Savi)
       Ten.: (Carduus lanceolatus L., Cirsium lanceolatum (L.) Scop., non
       Hill). Journal of Ecology. 81: 177-191.  [20980]

.  Knipe, O. D.; Pase, C. P.; Carmichael, R. S. 1979. Plants of the Arizona
       chaparral. Gen. Tech. Rep. RM-64. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of
       Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment
       Station. 54 p.  [1365]

.  Kuchler, A. W. 1964. Manual to accompany the map of potential vegetation
       of the conterminous United States. Special Publication No. 36. New York:
       American Geographical Society. 77 p.  [1384]

.  Munz, Philip A. 1974. A flora of southern California. Berkeley, CA:
       University of California Press. 1086 p.  [4924]

.  Raunkiaer, C. 1934. The life forms of plants and statistical plant
       geography. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 632 p.  [2843]

.  Shreve, F.; Wiggins, I. L. 1964. Vegetation and flora of the Sonoran
       Desert. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. 2 vols.  [21016]

.  Stickney, Peter F. 1989. Seral origin of species originating in northern
       Rocky Mountain forests. Unpublished draft on file at: U.S. Department of
       Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Fire
       Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT; RWU 4403 files. 7 p.  [20090]

.  Thorne, Robert F.; Prigge, Barry A.; Henrickson, James. 1981. A flora of
       the higher ranges and the Kelso Dunes of the eastern Mojave Desert in
       California. Aliso. 10(1): 71-186.  [3767]

.  U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service. 1982.
       National list of scientific plant names. Vol. 1. List of plant names.
       SCS-TP-159. Washington, DC. 416 p.  [11573]

.  Weber, William A. 1987. Colorado flora: western slope. Boulder, CO:
       Colorado Associated University Press. 530 p.  [7706]

.  Welsh, Stanley L.; Atwood, N. Duane; Goodrich, Sherel; Higgins, Larry
       C., eds. 1987. A Utah flora. Great Basin Naturalist Memoir No. 9. Provo,
       UT: Brigham Young University. 894 p.  [2944]

.  Wright, Henry A.; Bailey, Arthur W. 1982. Fire ecology: United States
       and southern Canada. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 501 p.  [2620]

.  Mitich, Larry W. 1988. Thistles I: Cirsium and Carduus. Weed Technology.
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Related categories for Species: Cirsium neomexicanum | Lavender Thistle