Purple Thistle – Cirsium horridulum

Purple Thistle – Cirsium horridulum

I have finally found it! I have met my match! Purple Thistle is a very interesting and beautiful plant that I have absolutely no interest in growing. Its genus is Cirsium which is a name from the greek relative to our Thistle. Stearn’s Dictionary of Plant Names says that this “genus has a great many pernicious weeds and very few plants of value to the gardener.” Also, its species horridulum means very prickly.  Step too closely or kneel in the wrong place and you will find out why this species of Thistle was given the name “horridulum.”

C. horridulum is one of 7 species of Cirsium in Florida. Only one of those is not native but all of them are not nice. All have one form or another of a spiny lance like leaf that will be noticed if you are weeding without gloves.  The species horridulum is the nastiest though. It’s upright herbaceous stem is formed by alternate spiny leaves that wrap around each other at the base of the plant.  It’s leaves are longest and densest at the base of the plant where it forms a spiny rosette. This plant can be from 1 – 5 feet tall and its large head of disk flowers can range from red to pink to purple to white having one – several flowers heads per plant. It can be found growing in ditches, on roadsides, in fields, and in disturbed areas. You may also notice Blue Eyed Grass (S. angustifolium) growing in the same ditches I took most of the pictures.

Its flower is seems to bloom out of a very harsh environment yet it has an almost soft appearance. Its seed is born out of the middle of the flower head waiting for the wind to take it away. I will not be collecting seed of this plant. However, if one randomly comes up in my yard and is not in a hazardous place I will not show to the blade of my hoe but the lens of my camera. This plant is extremely hazardous to humans but not to butterflies. It is an attractant to Sulfer, Swallowtail, and Skipper butterflies and also a host plant for the Metalmark caterpillars who feed on it’s leaves. 

A great gift for an enemy 

Flowers about to emerge

 Random spider burrowing in the flower

Purple Thistle in seed

Sulfur Butterfly on Purple Thistle

Cercis canadensis (Red Bud)

Another tree currently blooming in the North Central Florida landscape that cannot go unnoticed is Cercis canadensis (Red Bud).  Despite its name, Red Bud has more of a prurplish to pink flower that should remind you of a bean flower. That is because this tree is a member of the pea family Fabaceae and plants within the same family usually exhibit a very similar flower. That being said the fruit of Red Bud is a pod. Red Bud’s native range is Florida to New Mexico and along the eastern seaboard north to Canada.

Red Bud grows between 15 and 30 feet tall and is not much to look at in the winter when it has no leaves. But it will remind you why you planted it there Janurary – March (depending on where you live) when the flowers start to open. The trunk and old branches of the tree are covered with flowers and the tree seems to glow a hue you only see in sunsets. The flowers attract hummingbirds, bees and butterflies to your yard.  Planted in the right place this is an all around rewarding tree.

Wild Plums (Prunus)

Wild Plums are blooming across Florida now and they are stunning.  As the trees reach full bloom their showy display of white flowers had me pulling of the side of the road taking pictures and deciding, “I want to grow this plant.”

As it turns out, at this stage of development, it is hard to tell whether these are Prunus angustifolia (Chickasaw Plum) or Prunus umbellata (Flatwoods Plum). These species exhibit many similarities but at later stages of development there are key morphological differences that will help me tell the two apart.  I have made a chart listing the similarities and differences of these two species based on my own observations, literature I have read, and correspondence with Craig Hugel.

Prunus angustifolia ( Chickasaw Plum)	Prunus umbellata (Flatwoods Plum)
Deciduous	Deciduous
Flowers are white with 5 petals	Flowers are white with 5 petals
Flowers in Spring before leaves flush	Flowers in Spring before leaves flush
Flowers attract bees	Flowers attract bees
Grows up to +/- 20 feet tall	Grows up to  +/- 15 feet tall
Multi-trunked or crooked stems	Tall thin single trunked tree
Wide crown	Narrow crown
Mature leaf has a distinct “V” fold	Mature leaf has a slight “V” fold and flatter
Moderate salt tolerance	No salt tolerance
Fruit is +/- ½” in diameter	Fruit is +/- ½” in diameter
Fruit is red to yellow	Fruit is red to purple
Fruit is tart and makes a good jelly	Fruit is tart and makes a good jelly
Fruit attracts wildlife	Fruit attracts wildlife

Thanks to Craig Hugel for information that helped me put this together.

http://pinellas.fnpschapters.org/wildplums.html