Cirsium vulgare (Savi) Ten.

Code

CIRVU

Growth form

Broadleaf

Biological cycle

Biennial

Habitat

terrestrial

Seedling

The cotyledons are sessile, elliptical with an attenuated base and rounded apex. They are smooth and hairless. The epicotyl is indistinct. The first leaves develop in a rosette just above the cotyledons. They are simple, alternate, elliptical or oval in shape, with an attenuated sessile base and rounded apex. The margin is finely wavy and dotted with stiff, prickly hairs. The upper face is covered with short, stiff hairs. The central vein is greenish yellow.

Adult plant

Cirsium vulgare is an upright plant, 0.6 to 1.2 m high, covered in thorns. The leaves are simple, alternate, dark green, elongated, with a wavy, lobed and prickly margin and prickly tips. The basal leaves are arranged in a rosette, up to 0.6 m in diameter. The upper leaves have a decurrent base along the stem. The blade is 10 to 15 cm long and 4 to 5 cm wide. The upper surface is dotted with spiny hairs. The central vein is greenish yellow. The stem is often branched and winged with spines. The inflorescence is an ovoid flower head 2 to 4 cm long and 3 to 5 cm wide, surrounded by an involucre of overlapping bracts arranged in 10 series. The outer bracts are 1 to 3 cm long and 2 to 4 mm wide, with a lanceolate base and the apex ending in a long spine 5 to 9 mm long, spreading outwards. A set of hermaphrodite violet tubular florets emerges from the top of the involucre. Tube 2 cm long ending in 5 linear lobes 1 cm long. The fruits are brown ovoid achenes, 4 mm long and 2 mm wide, topped by a pappus of white feathery bristles, 2 to 3 cm long.

China: Cirsium vulgare flowers and fruits in July and August.
France - Camargue: Cirsium vulgare flowers and bears fruit from June to September.
Morocco: Cirsium vulgare flowers from June to July.
New Caledonia: The seeds have a prolonged dormancy, they usually germinate at the end of the warm season to form a rosette on the ground, provided with a tuberous pivot serving as reserve system. Usually, rosettes persist throughout the second rainy season and continue to develop during the second cool season, then the plants bloom in the dry season and the plant dies, but can remain erect for more than 1 year.

Cirsium vulgare is an annual species every two years, it reproduces only by its very numerous seeds (up to 8000 per plant) dispersed by wind and water. The silks of the seeds facilitate the spread by the wind, but their early fall makes this mode of dissemination inefficient. The seeds are dispersed during floods or transported in mud adhering to vehicles, tools and animals. They are also eaten by grain-eating birds.

Cirsium vulgare can be confused with Cirsium arvense or with some Carduus spp.. 

Distinctive criteria between Cirsium spp. and Carduus

Brazil: Cirsium vulgare tolerates poor, acid soils but thrives best in richer soils. It grows best in temperate climates.
China: Cirsium vulgare is a weed of farmland and wet meadows, from 400 to 1800 m altitude.
Comoros: Absent
Madagascar: Absent
Mauritius: Absent
Mayotte: Absent
Morocco: Cirsium vulgare is a fairly rare species, found in pastures, damp wasteland, streams and cool forests in the rainy low mountains, up to 1600 m altitude.
New Caledonia: Cirsium vulgare is found in different habitats such as pastures, crops, beaches, rocky outcrops.
Reunion: Cirsium vulgare is a pasture weed at high altitude.
South Africa: Cirsium vulgare is a weed of crops and fallow land. Vredefort Dome Savannah; Kalahari deciduous acacia grassland; dry grassland; mesic grassland. 

Origin

Cirsium vulgare is native to Eastern Europe, West Asia and North Africa.

Worldwide distribution

It is widespread in temperate zones. It has been introduces in USA, North-west of South America, Ethipia, South Africa, Reunion Island, Australia and New-Zeland.

Global harmfulness

Cirsium vulgare is an invasive weed in many parts of the world (USA, Canada, Australia) and competes with many crops. It is a particularly troublesome species in pastures.

Local harmfulness

Australia: It is a weed of Australian pastures where it covers several million hectares.
Comoros: Absent
Madagascar: Absent
Mauritius: Absent
Mayotte: Absent
New Caledonia: Introduced to New Caledonia in the late 1960s, it quickly colonized large areas in southwestern Grande Terre.
Reunion: A punctual weed in altitude pastures (Piton Mahot).
South Africa: Cirsium vulgare causes heavy infestations which reduce the load-bearing capacity of the veldt and can injure humans and animals. Common throughout the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West provinces.

New Caledonia: This species is favored by over-grazing. In prevention, it is advisable to reduce the grazing pressure at the end of the hot season to keep a good vegetation cover that will limit germination. Note that goats consume flowers and can therefore be used to limit seed production. The choice of the right period of rotary grinding is difficult, too early the plant will emit new stems from the base, too late, the seeds may already be produced. In case of heavy infestation, the establishment of a new pasture with tillage will remove the thistles. Chemical control is more effective at the end of flowering, before seed production with 2,4-D, dicamba or a mixture of glyphosate and chlopyralid (see table for products and doses). A biological control agent, the fly Urophora stylata, (gall fly) is currently being tested in Australia

Herbarium pictures ReCOLNAT: https://explore.recolnat.org/search/botanique/simplequery=Cirsium%2520vulgare