Cirsium ciliolatum is a species of thistle known by the common name Ashland thistle. It is endemic to the Klamath Mountains, where it is known from only a few occurrences in Jackson and Josephine Counties in Oregon, as well as neighboring Humboldt and Siskiyou Counties in California.[1] [2] It is related to Cirsium undulatum and may be more accurately described as a variety of that species.[3]
Cirsium ciliolatum is a perennial herb growing from a rootstock branching with runner roots to a maximum height near 200cm (100inches). It is cobwebby with fibers. The gray-green woolly leaves are smooth along the edges to deeply lobed, sometimes spiny and cobwebby, and up to 25 centimeters at the longest. The inflorescence is a cluster of several flower heads each about 2 centimeters long and up to 5 wide. The head is lined with sticky, spiny phyllaries and packed with white to lavender flowers. The fruit is an achene with a thick body a few millimeters long and a pappus about 1.5 centimeters in length.[3]
