- Cirsium andrewsii
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Cirsium andrewsii 
Conservation status Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae (unranked): Angiosperms (unranked): Eudicots (unranked): Asterids Order: Asterales Family: Asteraceae Tribe: Cynareae Genus: Cirsium Species: C. andrewsii Binomial name Cirsium andrewsii
(A.Gray) Petr.Cirsium andrewsii is an uncommon species of thistle known by the common name Franciscan thistle. It is endemic to California, where it is known only from the coastline of the San Francisco Bay Area from Marin to San Mateo Counties.[1] It grows in coastal habitat such as sea bluffs and canyons, and is sometimes found on serpentine soils. This native thistle is biennial to perennial, producing an erect, leafy stem which can reach two meters in height. It is highly branched, dense to clumpy, fleshy, and cobwebby with fibers, especially when new.
The leaves are woolly or cobwebby, spiny along the edges, and sometimes lack lobes or deep cuts. They are borne on petioles with winged, spiny margins, some spines exceeding a centimeter long. The inflorescence produces one or more flower heads, each up to 3 centimeters long by 5 wide, wispy with cobwebby fibers, and lined with very spiny phyllaries. The flower head is packed with dark purplish-pink flowers up to abou 2.5 centimeters in length. The fruit is an achene with a dark brown body about half a centimeter long and a pappus about 1.5 centimeters long.
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