WebTucker's blog: Plant log 2

June 1, 2022:
Today I ended another quest successfully! I only picked up a couple of species today, but that's okay. The fun is just getting out there and looking. Each ride I take is almost like a review. I see plants that I've recently photographed or photographed in the past, and try to remember their names and the circumstances of where I got them.

Today's subject is Cirsium repandum. I first encountered this plant back in the 1980's when I was a Park Naturalist at Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve. Back then, I called it Sandhill's Thistle, and by the scientific name of Carduus repandus. So, when I started looking it up after I got home and I could not find any instant for CR on the datsbase I had to do a little back tracking.
CR is an easily recognizable plant, so I knew it when I saw it. The name change was not unexpected, as after 30 plus years away things do change.




I think you can see in the picture that I'm right. It's easy to recognize.






This plant is a real beauty in a stark background. I usually find it in pine flats in sandy soils and not much around them. Usually the understory includes Jack oaks, persimmon, sassafras, cherry or other small understory trees. Not much grows on the ground in these areas, except maybe legumes, euphorbs or some other sand-loving plants. So, as a result the bright, pink flowers really stand out.





After looking this up and posting my photographs, I went and looked at the other species/photographs. I found that we have a few experts on the team. I will not mention names for fear of leaving someone out.

Another thing I found out in my back-tracking research is the reason for the change in genus. The reason is because of the achenes. The thistle can be plumed (Cirsium) or plumeless (Carduus). That means that the achene has "feathered-hairs" or plumes or they are plumeless. The feathers (obvoiusly) aid in dispersal. Carduus don't have plumes, hence the change. You find out all kinds of interesting things in your research that will help you remember the plant in the future and it's characteristics. In the future I will try and get photographs of the achenes to compare.
Till next time!

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