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LeConte's Thistle

Cirsium lecontei

Found in wet loamy pine savannas, seepage bogs. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you

87
Keystone

Native to Alabama. How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 82%

Light
Full sun
Soil moisture
Moist to wet
Will it fit your yard?

Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Plant caution source

Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.

At a glance

Life cycle
Perennial
Bloom
June to August

Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Leaves

Height: NC species account not read yet.

Spread and leaves: no source found yet.

This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.

Recorded in 4 Alabama counties.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 2

Pine savannas

Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.

Coastal Plain seepage bogs

Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.

All habitats

Also found with this plant

Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Alabama. Shared habitat, not food. 127 animals.

All wildlife of Alabama

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

28CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AL

Genus host records with ranges including AL · Cirsium

  • Achyra rantalisGarden Webworm Moth
  • Anagrapha falciferaCelery Looper Moth
  • Autographa precationisCommon Looper Moth
  • Calephelis virginiensisNorthern Metalmark
  • Cenopis reticulatanaReticulated Fruitworm Moth
  • Choristoneura rosaceanaOblique-Banded Leafroller Moth, Rosaceous Leaf Roller
  • Dicymolomia julianalisJulia's Dicymolomia
  • Epiblema scudderianaScudder's Epiblema, Goldenrod Gall Moth
  • Homoeosoma electellaSunflower Moth
  • Lipocosmodes fuliginosalisSooty Lipocosmodes
Show all 28
  • Megalographa bilobaBilobed Looper Moth
  • Orthodes cynicaCynical Quaker, Cynical Groundcat
  • Papaipema cataphractaBurdock Border, Potato-Stalk Borer
  • Papaipema cerussataIronweed Borer Moth
  • Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
  • Papilio glaucusEastern Tiger Swallowtail
  • Paralobesia viteanaAmerican Vine Moth, Grape Berry Moth
  • Phlogophora irisOlive Angle Shades
  • Phyciodes tharosPearl Crescent, Crescentspot
  • Phycitodes reliquellaWhite-Edged Phycitodes
  • Platyptilia carduidactylusArtichoke Plume Moth
  • Pyrausta subsequalisMottled Pyrausta
  • Synchlora frondariaSouthern Emerald
  • Udea rubigalisCelery Leaftier
  • Vanessa carduiPainted Lady, Cosmopolite
  • Vanessa virginiensisAmerican Lady, American Painted Lady
  • Xestia dolosaGreater Black-Letter Dart, Greater Spotted Cutworm
  • Pseudotelphusa carduiella
Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
60BeesSoutheastern regional records

Southeastern regional records · Cirsium

Individual names are not available yet.

Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
12Specialist beesPollen specialists

Pollen specialists · Cirsium

  • Andrena nubecula
  • Andrena placata
  • Andrena runcinatae
  • Andrena simplex
  • Diadasia enavata
  • Megachile pugnata
  • Melissodes confusus
  • Melissodes desponsus
  • Melissodes illatus
  • Melissodes rivalis
Show all 12
  • Osmia chalybea
  • Osmia texana
Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
6BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Cirsium

  • Callipepla californicaCalifornia Quail
  • Columbina passerinaCommon Ground Dove
  • Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
  • Perdix perdixGray Partridge
  • Spizella pusillaField Sparrow
  • Zenaida macrouraMourning Dove
Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)

Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening

No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family
Asteraceae
Flower color
Pink or purple
Growing sources and scope
  • Bloom · “June to August” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
  • Flower color · “Pink or purple” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
  • Life cycle · “Perennial” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
  • Light · “Full sun (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
  • Soil · “Moist; Wet (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
Also known as

Carduus lecontei; plumeless thistle; plumeless-thistle

Conservation status

Alabama rankS1
Global rankG3
AL statusNot verified
Federal statusNot verified

Conservation source Global and federal source

In your garden

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Sources