DEPARTMENT OF PRIMARY INDUSTRIES
Californian/Perennial Thistle (Cirsium arvense) (Nox)
Invasiveness Assessment | Impact Assessment | Potential Distribution | Present Distribution
| Scientific name: Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop. Common name: Californian Thistle Status: Regionally Prohibited weed in the North Central and North East CMAs. Regionally Controlled weed in the Wimmera, Glenelg-Hopkins, Corangamite, Port Phillip & Westernport (East and West), Goulburn Broken, West Gippsland and East Gippsland CMAs. Restricted in the Mallee CMA. Habitat: Subhumid to humid cool-temperate regions where it occurs in open, moderately warm situations up to subalpine levels (Parsons and Cuthbertson 1992). It prefers the more nitrogenous, deep loam soils in areas receiving more than 700 mm of annual rainfall (Parsons and Cuthbertson 1992). Californian thistle is a weed of indigenous grasslands, pastures, cultivated crops, roadsides and neglected sites (Parsons and Cuthbertson 1992). |  Californian Thistle seed heads (Photo: Doug Crawford) |
Related Links
Weed Identification Note for Californian/Perennial Thistle - on the Weeds Australia website (external link). Information is provided on the generalised current distribution in Australia as well as other information such as origin, distinguishing features, dispersal etc.
 Californian Thistle flowers and foliage (Photo: Doug Crawford) |  Californian Thistle plant (Photo: Doug Crawford) | |
© The State of Victoria, 1996 - 2008.
This document was last reviewed on 04/09/2008