Carduus pycnocephalus L., 1763

Common names

• 🇬🇧 Plymouth Thistle
• 🇫🇷 Chardon à tete dense, Chardon à capitules denses

Taxonomy

• Kingdom: Plantae
• Clade: Tracheophytes
• Clade: Angiosperms
• Clade: Eudicots
• Clade: Superasterids
• Clade: Asterids
• Clade: Campanulids
• Order: Asterales
• Family: Asteraceae
• Subfamily: Carduoideae
• Tribe: Cardueae
• Subtribe: Carduinae
• Genus: Carduus
• Species: Carduus pycnocephalus

Presence

Present.

Conservation status

• Red List (Metropolitan France): LC Least Concern

Notes

Possible confusion with C. tenuiflorus Curtis, 1793, whose flowers have shorter (≤ 13 mm), pale pink corollas and shorter, barely visible peduncles, while those of C. pycnocephalus have longer (> 13 mm), purplish corollas and longer peduncles.

The following infraspecific taxa are accepted:

• C. pycnocephalus subsp. albidus (M.Bieb.) Kazmi, 1964;
• C. pycnocephalus subsp. intermedius (Lojac.) Giardina & Raimondo, 2007;
• C. pycnocephalus subsp. pycnocephalus L., 1763, P.

Hybridizes with C. tenuiflorus Curtis, 1793 to produce C. × theriotii Rouy, 1905, P (het. syn. C. × pycnotenuiflorus Timb.-Lagr. & Jeanb., 1875).

Photographs

Sources

• Tison, J.M., & de Foucault, B. (2014). Flora Gallica : Flore de France (p. 405). Biotope.