Carduus nutans

Carduus nutans Musk thistle

Introduction The genus Carduus, comprised of approximately 95 species, is distributed in Eurasia and northern and tropical Africa. There are only three species native to China[104].

Species of Carduus in China

Scientific Name C. acanthoides L. C. crispus L. Carduus nutans flower. (Photo by Norman G. Flaigg, LBJWC.) C. nutans L.

are triangular-lanceolate, elliptic, or elliptic-lanceolate, 1.5-2 cm long Taxonomy Related Species and 5 mm wide. Corollas are purple Family: Compositae Carduus crispus L. is a common red and about 2.5 cm long. Fruits are (Asteraceae) weed throughout China occurring on gray-yellow achenes about 3.5 mm Genus: Carduus L grassland slopes, farmlands, wastelands, long, with many thin grooves that riversides and forests at elevations of are pale brown and wrinkled. Pappus 400–3,600 m. Carduus acanthoides L. Description bristles are white, scabrid, and unequal. Carduus nutans is a biennial or perennial is also distributed throughout China and Flowers and fruits appear from June herb 20-100 cm tall. Stems are grayish occurs on hilly slopes, grasslands, forest to September[104]. white, ribbed, usually multi-branched, edges, thickets, valleys, lakesides, and farmlands at elevations of 260–3,500 rarely unbranched, sparsely arachnoid, [104] and apically tomentose. Leaves of the Habitat and Distribution m . C. nutans occurs in valleys, croplands lower and middle parts are ovate to and grasslands at elevations of 540–2300 lance-shaped, 10-40 cm long and 3-10 Natural Enemies of Carduus m in the Tian Shan mountains and cm wide, pinnatifid or pinnatipartite Of the four fungi found on members of Dzungarian Basin of Xinjiang[20][104]. with five to seven pairs of lateral the genus Carduus, two are reported to lobes, which are obliquely triangular infect musk thistle, one rust, Puccinia or triangular-ovate, and at the tip of Economic Importance galatica is host specific. Seven arthropod C. nutans is nectariferous. each lobe is a light yellow or brown species from five families are associated spine that is about 4-6 mm long. The upper leaves gradually decrease in size upward, and are lobed pinnately or entire, bearing spinules shorter than those of the lower and middle leaves. Inflorescence consists of 4-6 solitary heads at the end of the branches. The involucre is bell-shaped or broadly so and 4-7 cm in diameter. Bracts are multi-layered and imbricate. The outermost bract is triangular, 1.4-1.5 cm long and 4-5 mm wide; innermost bract is broadly linear to linear-lanceolate, 2-2.2 cm long and 2-3 mm wide, with the midrib raised and elongated apically into a spine. Middle and inner bracts

42 — Invasive Plants of Asian Origin Established in the US and Their Natural Enemies Carduus nutans with the members of the genus Fungi

Phylum Family Species H. R. Ref. Ascomycota Erysiphaceae Erysiphe cichoracearum DC. po 22 Incertae sedis Aecidium cardui Syd. & P. Syd. oo 23 Basidiomycota Puccinia carduorum Jacky o 23 Pucciniaceae Puccinia galatica Syd. m 23

Arthropods

Order Family Species H. R. Ref. Coleoptera Hispidae Cassida rubiginosa rugo-sopunctata Motschulsky po 140 Hemiptera Tingidae Tringis ampliata (Herrich-Schaeffer) po 193 Homoptera Aphididae Capitophorus carduinus (Walker) po 189 Apamea vetusta (Hübner) po 13 Noctuidae Orthosia gracilis (Schiffermüller) po 12 Lepidoptera Nymphalidae Vanessa cardui (Linnaeus) po 203 Tortricidae Aethes cnicana Westwood po 66

Invasive Plants of Asian Origin Established in the US and Their Natural Enemies — 43