Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Check out EDDMapS.org to see where this has been reported.
Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Campanulids: Asterales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA (11/30/12):
Carduus nutans
FAMILY
Asteraceae__
(?)
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Carduus nutans
FAMILY
Asteraceae__
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (1968) 179-25-014:
Carduus nutans
FAMILY
Asteraceae__
GREATER THAN
Synthesis of the North American Flora (Kartesz, 1999)
Carduus nutans ssp. macrolepis
COMMON NAME:
Nodding Thistle, Musk Thistle
Click or hover over the thumbnails to see larger pictures.
JK Marlow jkm140603_386
June Pickens County SC
SC Botanical Garden
Heads ~ 2" wide, usually nodding, solitary at the ends of very long stalks, per Wildflowers of Tennessee.
JK Marlow jkm170603_233
June Hart County GA
The pappus bristles of Carduus are simple (vs. feathery in Cirsium), per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains.
JK Marlow jkm060710_013
July Tucker County WV
Monongahela National Forest
A nodding head with broad, purplish reflexed involucral bracts, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains.
COMPARE
involucral bracts of Thistles
JK Marlow jkm060710_019
July Tucker County WV
Monongahela National Forest
Phyllaries 2-8mm wide, per Weakley's Flora.
Bruce Ackley, The Ohio State University, Bugwood.org bug_5437938
Month Unknown
Leaves very spiny, pinnately lobed, to 10" long and 4" wide", per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians.