Cirsium scariosum
Nutt. · speciesAt a glance
Sources13 archives
Databases and archives Cirsium scariosum's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation3 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility2 404 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI9 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics18 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype
Tree of SexTree of Sex Consortiumgenome & karyotype↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Cirsium scariosum is a species of thistle known by the common names meadow thistle, elk thistle and dwarf thistle.Calflora taxon report, University of California, Cirsium scariosum Nutt. Dwarf Thistle, elk thistle It is native to much of western North America from Alberta and British Columbia south to Baja California. There are also isolated populations on the Canadian Atlantic Coast, on the Mingan Archipelago in Québec.Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution mapFlora of North America, Meadow or elk thistle, chardon écailleux, Cirsium scariosum Nuttall Cirsium scariosum is a variable species growing in a variety of habitat types. It is made up of several geographic races, most of which have been previously classified as species.Flora of North America The races intergrade but their morphologies can also be quite different. This is generally a biennial or perennial herb. It takes three main forms, a stemless, flat rosette with a cluster of flower heads in the center, a mounding form with a short, erect stem, or a fully erect form reaching up to 200 cm in height. When there is a stem it is usually fleshy, ridged, and woolly in texture. The leaves are sharply toothed or cut into toothed lobes, lined with spines, and up to 40 cm at their longest near the base of the plant. The inflorescence holds several flower heads, each up to 4 centimeters long and 5 cm wide. The flower head is lined with phyllaries which may have spines and teeth and filled with white to purple disc florets but no ray florets. The fruit is a compressed achene a few millimeters long topped with a pappus which may be 3 centimeters in length. Varieties Cirsium scariosum var. americanum - California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming, Baja California Cirsium scariosum var. citrinum - California, Baja California Cirsium scariosum var. coloradense - Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming Cirsium scariosum var. congdonii - California, Nevada Cirsium scariosum var. robustum - California, Oregon Cirsium scariosum var. scariosum - Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming Cirsium scariosum var. thorneae - Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Colorado Cirsium scariosum var. toiyabense- Nevada, Oregon, Idaho
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology3
Life cycle & reproduction3
Diet & foraging1
Habitat & environment6
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Cirsium scariosum has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Cirsium scariosum carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
2n 3415×GoaT · Tree of Sex Database · CCDB · ipcn-api-dl · CCDB · book-ipcn67-71 +3
n 172×CCDB · ipcn-api-dl · CCDB · book-ipcn73-74
diploid inferred1×PloiDB · genus-scale
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type2 404 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions49 of 70 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Bronx, US | 128 |
| Claremont, US | 91 |
| Moscow, US | 55 |
| DOI/NPS, Colonial National Historical Parklocation not on record | 50 |
| Flagstaff, US | 35 |
| BClocation not on record | 33 |
| Boise, US | 32 |
| Pocatello, US | 29 |
| Corvallis, US | 28 |
| Missoula, US | 20 |
| Musee des Dinosaures d'Esperaza (Aude)location not on record | 19 |
| CASlocation not on record | 19 |
| Provo, US | 17 |
| WTUlocation not on record | 14 |
| Davis, US | 12 |
| DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record | 12 |
| Logan, US | 11 |
| Pullman, US | 10 |
| Chicago, US | 10 |
| Arcata, US | 10 |
| Saint Louis, US | 9 |
| Caldwell, US | 9 |
| Bozeman, US | 8 |
| San Diego, US | 8 |
| Riverside, US | 6 |
| Phoenix, US | 6 |
| Victoria, CA | 6 |
| University of Alberta Museumslocation not on record | 6 |
| Canadian Department of Agriculturelocation not on record | 6 |
| US | 5 |
| IDElocation not on record | 4 |
| Bloomington, US | 4 |
| Vancouver, CA | 4 |
| Northridge, US | 3 |
| Irvine, US | 3 |
| Université Lavallocation not on record | 3 |
| Denver, US | 3 |
| Chongqing Museumlocation not on record | 3 |
| VALElocation not on record | 3 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 3 |
| Long Beach, US | 3 |
| Ensenada, MX | 3 |
| Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratorylocation not on record | 3 |
| Spearfish, US | 2 |
| Truckee, US | 2 |
| Madison, US | 2 |
| Severin-McDaniel Insect Collectionlocation not on record | 2 |
| Minia, EG | 2 |
| San Jose, US | 2 |
| INFlocation not on record | 2 |
| Portland, US | 2 |
| DOI/NPS, Greenbelt Parklocation not on record | 2 |
| San Luis Obispo, US | 2 |
| Pittsburg, US | 2 |
| ASUlocation not on record | 2 |
| La Paz, MX | 1 |
| Mexico City, MX | 1 |
| Weber State Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| Chadron, US | 1 |
| Yellowstone National Park Herbariumlocation not on record | 1 |
| Macomb, US | 1 |
| Whitewater, US | 1 |
| Bangkok, TH | 1 |
| St. Paul, US | 1 |
| Henderson, US | 1 |
| Durango, US | 1 |
| Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalitionlocation not on record | 1 |
| Bend, US | 1 |
| EL PASO, US | 1 |
| Arizona State University Biocollectionslocation not on record | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Cirsium scariosum was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.