Cirsium palustre

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae}} {{Speciesbox |image = Cirsium palustre inflorescence - Niitvälja.jpg |genus = Cirsium |species = palustre |authority = (L.) Scop. |synonyms_ref = <ref name=POWO>{{cite web |work=Plants of the World Online |title=Cirsium palustre (L.) Scop. |url= https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:195790-1 |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Kew |access-date=5 July 2024 }}</ref> |synonyms = {{collapsible list|bullets = true |title=Selected synonyms |''Carduus chailleti'' Godr. |''Carduus laciniatus'' Lam. |''Carduus palustris'' L. |''Cirsium chailletii'' Gaudin |''Cirsium kochianum'' Loehr |''Cirsium laciniatum'' Nyman |''Cirsium lacteum'' Schleich. ex W.Koch |''Cirsium palatinum'' Sch.Bip. ex Nyman |''Cirsium parviflorum'' Lange ex Nyman |''Cnicus palustris'' (L.) Willd. |''Cynara palustris'' Stokes }}}}

'''''Cirsium palustre''''', the '''marsh thistle'''<ref name=BSBI07>{{BSBI 2007 |access-date=2014-10-17}}</ref> or '''European swamp thistle''', is a herbaceous biennial (or often perennial) flowering plant in the family Asteraceae.<ref>J. S. Rodwell. 1998. ''British Plant Communities'', p. 227</ref><ref>[http://luirig.altervista.org/flora/taxa/index1.php?scientific-name=cirsium+palustre Altervista Flora Italiana, Cardo di palude, Sumpf-Kratzdistel, kärrtistel, ''Cirsium palustre'' (L.) Scop.] includes photos and European distribution map</ref>

== Description == ''Cirsium palustre'' is a tall thistle which reaches up to {{Convert|2|m|ft|sigfig=1}} in height. The strong stems have few branches and are covered in small spines. In its first year the plant grows as a dense rosette, at first with narrow, entire leaves with spiny, dark purple edges; later, larger leaves are lobed. In the subsequent years the plant grows a tall, straight stem, the tip of which branches repeatedly, bearing a candelabra of dark purple flowers, {{Convert|10|-|20|mm|in|1}} with purple-tipped bracts. In the northern hemisphere these are produced from June to September. The flowers are occasionally white, in which case the purple edges to the leaves are absent.<ref name=lola/>

<gallery> Image:Cirsium_palustre.jpg|llustration File:Cirsium palustre20160617 5174.jpg|As a pot plant </gallery>

== Ecology == The plant provides a great deal of nectar for pollinators. It was rated first out of the top 10 for most nectar production (nectar per unit cover per year) in a UK plants survey conducted by the AgriLand project which is supported by the UK Insect Pollinators Initiative.<ref name=Pollinators>{{cite web |title=Which flowers are the best source of nectar? |publisher=Conservation Grade |url=http://www.conservationgrade.org/2014/10/which_flowers_best_source_nectar/ |accessdate=2017-10-18 |date=2014-10-15 |archive-date=2019-12-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214024659/http://www.conservationgrade.org/2014/10/which_flowers_best_source_nectar/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

It is native to Europe where it is particularly common on damp ground such as marshes, wet fields, moorland and beside streams. In Canada and the northern United States, it is an introduced species that has become invasive. It grows in dense thickets that can crowd out slower growing native plants.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://alienspecies.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/eng/species/marsh-plume-thistle |title=Marsh Plume Thistle, Aliens Among Us. |access-date=2013-12-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213221024/http://alienspecies.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/eng/species/marsh-plume-thistle |archive-date=2013-12-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=lola>[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250066389 Flora of North America, European swamp or marsh thistle, cirse ou chardon des marais, ''Cirsium palustre'' (Linnaeus) Scopoli]</ref><ref>[http://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Cirsium%20palustre.png Biota of North America Program 22014 county distribution map]</ref>

''Cirsium palustre'' is broadly distributed throughout much of Europe and eastward to central Asia. This thistle's occurrence is linked to the spread of human agriculture from the mid-Holocene era or before.<ref name="Hogan">C. Michael Hogan. 2009. [http://www.globaltwitcher.com/artspec_information.asp?thingid=48639 ''Marsh Thistle: Cirsium palustre'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Strömberg] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121213144520/http://www.globaltwitcher.com/artspec_information.asp?thingid=48639 |date=December 13, 2012 }}</ref> It is a constant plant of several fen-meadow plant associations, including the ''Juncus subnodulosus''-''Cirsium palustre'' fen-meadow.<ref name="Hogan"/> The flowers are visited by a wide variety of insects, featuring a generalised pollination syndrome.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1111/plb.12328| title = Competition for pollinators and intra-communal spectral dissimilarity of flowers| journal = Plant Biology| pages = 56–62| year = 2015| last1 = Van Der Kooi | first1 = C. J.| last2 = Pen | first2 = I.| last3 = Staal | first3 = M.| last4 = Stavenga | first4 = D. G.| last5 = Elzenga | first5 = J. T. M.| url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273158762 | pmid = 25754608 | volume = 18| issue = 1| hdl = 11370/caee8d0d-9724-4056-9d45-93162a5a7afc| hdl-access = free}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

==External links== {{Commons category}}

* [http://www.tropicos.org/ImageFullView.aspx?imageid=100265801 Photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden]

palustre Category:Flora of Europe Category:Flora of Asia Category:Plants described in 1753 Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus