Cirsium rhothophilum

Cirsium rhothophilum
Cirsium rhothophilum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Tribe: Cynareae
Genus: Cirsium
Species: C. rhothophilum
Binomial name
Cirsium rhothophilum
S.F.Blake

Cirsium rhothophilum is a species of thistle known by the common name surf thistle. It is endemic to California, where it is known only from the coastline around the border between San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. It grows in sand dunes and coastal scrub near the beach. This native thistle grows up to a meter tall with fleshy, woolly herbage usually forming a mound. The thick leaves are wavy and covered in feltlike hairs. They may have smooth, lobed, or toothed edges and small spines. The largest leaves at the base of the plant may reach 25 centimeters. The inflorescence bears several clustered flower heads, each head up to 4 centimeters long and 6 wide. The heads are lined with woolly phyllaries and filled with off-white to pale yellowish flowers. The fruit is an achene a few millimeters long with a pappus up to 2 centimeters in length.

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