Cirsium canescens

Family: Asteraceae
Common Name: prairie thistle
Symbol: CICA11
Description: Plants 1-8 dm; leaves deeply pinnati?d, 12-30 cm long, green and arachnoid above and densely white-tomentose below, decurrent; involucre 30-40 mm high, with a dark dorsal ridge, spines 2-4 mm long, the outer and middle re?exed; disk ?owers ochroleucous, 24-30 mm long; pappus 18-30mm long; achenes 5-7 mm long. Found in gravelly soil of dry places, especially common on dry, open grasslands of the eastern plains, but also found along roadsides and in open meadows in the mountains, 3500-9500 ft.