Nuttall's Thistle
Cirsium nuttallii
Found in longleaf pine savannas, roadsides, pastures, wet hammocks, dry hammocks, prairies. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 88%
- Height
- 1 foot 8 inches–11 feet 6 inches
- Light
- Partial shade, Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry to wet
At a glance
- Bloom
- June to August
Not yet recorded · Spread · Life cycle · Leaves
Recorded in 45 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Dense, evergreen groves of live oak, magnolia and other hardwoods in the southern Coastal Plain, from dry oak domes to wet hydric hammocks and south Florida's tropical hammocks; salt-shaped maritime hammocks are maritime forests.
Who uses this plant?
30CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Cirsium
- Achyra rantalisGarden Webworm Moth
- Anagrapha falciferaCelery 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
- Euxoa auxiliarisArmy Cut-Worm, Army Cutworm
- Homoeosoma electellaSunflower Moth
- Lipocosmodes fuliginosalisSooty Lipocosmodes
Show all 30
- Megalographa bilobaBilobed Looper Moth
- Orthodes cynicaCynical Quaker, Cynical Groundcat
- Papaipema cataphractaBurdock Border, Potato-Stalk Borer
- Papilio glaucusEastern Tiger Swallowtail
- Paralobesia viteanaAmerican Vine Moth, Grape Berry Moth
- Phyciodes tharosPearl Crescent, Crescentspot
- Phycitodes reliquellaWhite-Edged Phycitodes
- Platyptilia carduidactylusArtichoke Plume Moth
- Pyrausta subsequalisMottled Pyrausta
- Synchlora frondariaSouthern Emerald
- Syntomeida ipomoeaeYellow-Banded Wasp Moth
- Udea rubigalisCelery Leaftier
- Vanessa carduiPainted Lady, Cosmopolite
- Vanessa virginiensisAmerican Lady, American Painted Lady
- Walshia miscecolorellaSweetclover Root Borer Moth
- Xestia dolosaGreater Black-Letter Dart, Greater Spotted Cutworm
- Hedya cyanana
- Homoeosoma pedionnastes
- Omiodes simialis
- Pseudotelphusa carduiella
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
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
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
Plant details
- Family
- Asteraceae
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “June to August” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Height · “1 foot 8 inches–11 feet 6 inches” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Light · “Partial shade; Full sun (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Soil · “Dry; Moist; Wet (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
Also known as
Carduus nuttallii; plumeless thistle; plumeless-thistle
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- 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
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications