The silver thistle is also called “stemless carline thistle”, or “dwarf carline thistle”.
Silver thistle: illustrated description
(August 2024, altitude 1,800 m, Ventoux Mountain, Provence, France)
(August 2024, altitude 1,800 m, Ventoux Mountain, Provence, France)
(August 2024, altitude 1,800 m, Ventoux Mountain, Provence, France)
- Capitulum (= small, tightly packed flowers): 5 to 12 cm in diameter;
- Dry, silvery-white bracts;
- Taproot (= straight and elongated);
- Short stem: ‘acaulis’ (Latin) means ‘without stem’ (‘a’ privative and ‘caulis’ = stem);
- Leaves: rosette (= circular arrangement) of pinnate leaves (= leaf divided into leaflets arranged in rows along the main vein) with wavy segments and spiny teeth;
- Habitat: it can be found in dry, warm environments in summer, in the mountains only;
- Special feature: it reflects the air’s hygrometry (= measurement of the quantity of water vapor). In fact, its bracts close in wet weather, and open in dry.
Silver thistle: scientific classification
- Domain: biota
- Kingdom: plantae
- Phylum: tracheophyta
- Class: asterales
- Order: magnoliopsida
- Family: asteraceae
- Genus: carlina
- Species: Carlina acaulis
The silver thistle belongs to :
- Vascular plants (= tracheophytes)
- Flowering plants (= angiosperms)
- Asteraceae (= largest family of flowering plants)
Sources:
"Quelle est cette plante ?" published by ULMER (book in French)