Indian Thistle (Cirsium edule)

Young flower head, Thunder Basin, North Cascades N.P., 8/2012.

A lot of thistles are non-native and often invasive. This one is neither.

Carbon River Trail, Mt. Rainer N.P., WA, 8/2011.

Also know as ‘Edible Thistle’ as the lower stems and taproot are edible when peeled. This species may be the “very sweet when baked” thistle root described by Meriweather Lewis during their 1804-05 Oregon winter.

Mt. Ellinor Trail, Olympic National Forest, WA, 8/2020.

This entry was posted on October 3, 2011 by nwwildflowers. It was filed under alpine/subalpine meadow, aster/composite, Cascades, Coastal, edible, July, Low Elevation, Mid Elevation, purple/blue, Unique to Northwest, Washington and was tagged with carbon river trail, edible thistle, flower, Mt. Rainier, Wildflowers.

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2 responses

Jurek Zarzycki

Is it endemic to NW?

June 25, 2015 at 8:05 am

Reply
- nwwildflowers
  
  Seems to be, if you include Canada and Alaska and maybe some western Montana.
  
  June 25, 2015 at 9:57 am
  
  Reply