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Carthamus lanatus baeticus

(Distaff Thistle)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Distaff Thistle, Saffron Thistle, Smooth Distaff-Thistle, Woolly Distaff Thistle

Description

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Family Compositae

The largest family of flowering plants , the Compositae (Asteraceae), comprising about 1,100 genera and more than 20,000 species and characterized by many small flowers arranged in a head looking like a single flower and subtended by an involucre of bracts. A head may consist of both ray flowers and disk flowers, as in the sunflower, of disk flowers only, as in the burdock, or of ray flowers only, as in the dandelion.

Genus Carthamus

Annuals or perennials, 30-180 cm. herbage glabrous to ± glandular and/or ± tomentose . Stems usually erect , branched distally or throughout, (leafy). Leaves basal and cauline or all cauline; basal and proximal cauline winged-petiolate, distal cauline sessile, sometimes clasping ; blade margins dentate to pinnately lobed , ± spiny , faces glabrous or ± glandlar and/or ± tomentose. Heads discoid , borne singly or in few-headed cymiform arrays. Involucres ovoid , constricted distally. Phyllaries many in 4-5 series. linear to ovate (at least outer ± leaflike), bases appressed , apical appendages more herbaceous, prominently veiny , spiny-dentate or -lobed, spine. tipped. Receptacles convex to conic, epaleate, bearing subulate scales . Florets 15-60+. corollas yellow to red or ± purple, tubes very slender, throats gradually or abruptly expanded, ± cylindric or short-campanulate, lobes linear; anther bases short-tailed, apical appendages oblong ; style branches: fused portions with slightly swollen basal nodes minutely hairy , distally minutely papillate , distinct portions very short. Cypselae oblong to obpyramidal , ± 4-angled, apices with smooth or dentate rims, faces usually ± roughened (outer) or smooth (inner), glabrous, attachment scar . lateral ; pappi 0 or (usually only inner cypselae) ± persistent , of many, usually unequal, narrow scales overlapping in several series. x = 10, 12.

Species 14: introduced ; United States; Mediterranean region.[1]

Physical Description

Flowers: Bloom Period: June, July, August. • Flower Color: goldyellow-orange

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 24-36" tall.

Habitat

Typically found in water with a depth of 0 to -2,198 meters (0 to -7,211 feet).[2]

Biome: Marine .

Biology

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Growth

Culture: Space 18-24" apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 5.6 • Maximum pH: 7.8

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: Not Applicable (map)

Taxonomy

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Notes

Place of publication : Emb. & Maire, Mém. Soc. Maroc 21/22:180. 1929

Name verified on 01-May-1992 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 07-Nov-2007

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Carthamus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 10 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

C. baeticus baeticus (Smooth Distaff Thistle) · C. lanatus (Distaff Thistle) · C. lanatus baeticus (Distaff Thistle) · C. lanatus lanatus (Woolly Distaff Thistle) · C. leucocaulos (Distaff Thistle) · C. oxyacantha (Jeweled Distaff Thistle) · C. oxyacanthus (Wild Safflower) · C. tinctorius (American Saffron) · C. tinctorius 'Grenade Mix' (American Saffron) · C. tinctorius 'Magestic Orange' (American Saffron)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. David J. Keil "Carthamus". in Flora of North America Vol. 19, 20 and 21 Page 52, 67, 83, 178. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Mean = -406.620 meters (-1,334.055 feet), Standard Deviation = 541.890 based on 71 observations. Ocean depth information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/16/2012