Snowy Thistle

Snowy Thistle

I have been working a lot with thistles lately. Mostly noxious thistles like musk thistle (Carduus nutans) and scotch thistle (Onopordum acanthium). I have been pulling these noxious thistles, in large amounts, from the Mount Rose Wilderness area. While working with the noxious thistles I have learned about native thistle that I had no idea existed.

The native thistle is the snowy thistle (Cirsium occidentale). The snowy thistle is also known as the cobweb thistle (Cirsium occidentale var. candidissimum) and is one of only a small handful of thistles that are native to Nevada. Snowy thistles are covered with dense, white hairs. The leaves, stems and and heads are all covered with the cobweb-like hairs, giving the plant a very white appearance. If you can get past the prickles and touch the leaves of the plant, you'll find that they are actually quite soft. The flowers are bright scarlet, a striking contrast to the white color of the rest of the plant.

Snowy Thistle leaves

Snowy Thistle plant, covered with dense white hairs

The stems of this plant can be peeled and eaten raw or cooked by stir fry, steaming or boiling. Many types of thistles can be used as food once the prickles has been removed. Removing the prickles, though, can be quite tedious. I recommend, if you want to use thistles as food source, pulling and eating the pesky ones rather than the native ones.