Macoun’s thistle

Carduus macounii Greene, Ottawa Naturalist 16: 38. 1902; Cirsium macounii (Greene) Petrak

Heads often densely crowded at stem tips. Peduncles 0–5(–10) cm. Involucres 2–4 × 2.5–4 cm, usually densely arachnoid. Phyllary apices widely spreading, long-acicular, spines 5–15 mm. Corollas (15–)18–22 mm, tubes 7–11 mm, throats (4–)5–8.5 mm, lobes (2–)4.5–7 mm; style tips 4–5 mm. Cypselae dark brown, 5–6.5 mm; pappi 20–25 mm. 2n = 34 (as C. edule).

Flowering Jun–Oct. Damp soil, mostly montane meadows, forests, alpine; 0–1900 m; B.C.; Alaska, Oreg., Wash.

Variety macounii ranges from the coastal mountains of southeastern Alaska and British Columbia to Vancouver Island, the Olympic Peninsula, and northern Cascades of Washington, and the mountains of northwestern Oregon.