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Cirsium ochrocentrum; photograph (c) Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-07-16

Cirsium ochrocentrum A.Gray

Yellow-spine thistle

Asteraceae · Colorado, Wyoming +9

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Cirsium ochrocentrum, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedCirsium ochrocentrum, photograph (c) Sam Kieschnick, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cirsium ochrocentrum, photograph (c) Sam Kieschnick, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cirsium ochrocentrum, photograph (c) Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cirsium ochrocentrum, photograph (c) Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cirsium ochrocentrum, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 61 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-10.3°C
Record low -18.7 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
31°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
432mm
7 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
19–48DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes May to October, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Cirsium ochrocentrum is a species of thistle known by the common name yellowspine thistle. It is native to the Great Plains of the Central United States and to the desert regions of the western United States and northern Mexico. Its range extends from eastern Oregon east to the Black Hills of South Dakota, south as far as the Mexican State of Durango.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Cirsium ochrocentrum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (316 mm of 436 mm) falls in May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 20.3 °C against a yearly mean of 12.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April.

Rain

436 mm in the median year at the habitat, 316 mm of it May to October. Wettest month August at 69 mm, driest months (2 at 15 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 320 mm to 593 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 432 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 436 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 48 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 15, the highest 90th-percentile month 52).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -10.3 °C, the absolute minimum -18.7 °C, 4,605 frost nights in 44 years, 104.7 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.2 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -3.1 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -7.1 °C to 1.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.2 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -10.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 47 to 52% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -31 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Cirsium ochrocentrum through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 31 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -3.1 °C; 436 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost38.2° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-18.7° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100mm rainDLI 19–48RH 47–52%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 659 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C9 / 5–1512 / 6–1716 / 11–2121 / 15–2625 / 20–2930 / 25–3331 / 27–3430 / 25–3227 / 23–2921 / 17–2515 / 9–199 / 4–15
Night °C-3 / -7–2-2 / -6–32 / -3–66 / 0–1011 / 6–1516 / 11–2018 / 14–2218 / 13–2114 / 9–178 / 3–122 / -3–6-3 / -7–2
Rain mm15 / 9–2815 / 10–2824 / 12–4529 / 11–5753 / 13–8152 / 17–8765 / 45–8769 / 45–8743 / 30–6534 / 25–5118 / 12–2919 / 10–31
DLI21 / 17–2427 / 24–3035 / 31–4043 / 39–4846 / 42–5248 / 44–5246 / 44–4742 / 40–4336 / 34–3929 / 25–3222 / 18–2619 / 15–22
RH %51 / 49–5551 / 47–5549 / 43–5447 / 40–5249 / 39–5450 / 39–5450 / 47–5352 / 49–5451 / 47–5450 / 47–5350 / 47–5451 / 49–55
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 659 grid cells holding the 813 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1066:1538 (36.675, -103.075). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -18.7 °C, 1st-percentile night -10.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.2 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 659 distinct grid cells holding 813 of the 813 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1066:1538 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 36.50_-103.125, lapse-corrected -31 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1462 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeColorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, California, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Mexico Northeast · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker32.724, -108.504 · in the densest population, 903 records (79% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1149 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 813 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 504 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 156 km away. 243 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 336 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1149 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Cirsium ochrocentrum, photograph 1did not loadCirsium ochrocentrum, photograph 2did not loadCirsium ochrocentrum, photograph 3did not loadCirsium ochrocentrum, photograph 4did not loadCirsium ochrocentrum, photograph 5did not loadCirsium ochrocentrum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Sam Kieschnick, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Thelesperma megapotamicum Thelesperma megapotamicum Hopi Tea Photo: CC0, author not statedArtemisia filifolia Artemisia filifolia Sand sagebrush Photo: CC0, author not statedHedeoma drummondii Hedeoma drummondii Drummond's false pennyroyal Photo: CC BY, Sam KieschnickAsclepias latifolia Asclepias latifolia Broadleaf milkweed Photo: CC0, author not statedSenecio riddellii Senecio riddellii Riddell's ragwort Photo: CC BY-SA, Turner BrockmanGaillardia pinnatifida Gaillardia pinnatifida Yellow blanketflower Photo: CC BY, Parker James Lloyd

Other Cirsium 56 in the reference

Cirsium acaulon Cirsium acaulon Dwarf Thistle Photo: CC BY, Franck CabotCirsium alsophilum Cirsium alsophilum Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, Tony KMCirsium altissimum Cirsium altissimum Roadside thistle Photo: CC BY, hr_dragonflyCirsium arisanense Cirsium arisanense Alishan thistle Photo: CC BY, Rick ChouCirsium arizonicum Cirsium arizonicum Arizona thistle Photo: CC BY, Parker James LloydCirsium arvense Cirsium arvense Creeping thistle Photo: CC BY, Arthur WhitingCirsium brevicaule Cirsium brevicaule Okinawa Thistle Photo: CC0, author not statedCirsium brevistylum Cirsium brevistylum Clustered thistle Photo: CC0, author not statedCirsium canum Cirsium canum Queen Anne's thistle Photo: CC BY, Анна МитрошенковаCirsium carniolicum Cirsium carniolicum Asteraceae Photo: CC0, author not statedCirsium carolinianum Cirsium carolinianum Soft thistle Photo: CC BY, Nathan AaronCirsium cymosum Cirsium cymosum Peregrine thistle Photo: CC0, author not stated all 57 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Carduus ochrocentrus; Carduus undulatus var. ochrocentrus; Cirsium ochrocentrum var. townsendii; Cnicus ochrocentrus; Cnicus undulatus var. ochrocentrus. (GBIF Backbone)

Kew accepts as species of their own Cirsium townsendii: older names in GBIF's record of this species that Kew's World Checklist accepts as other species. (WCVP, RBG Kew, file of 2026-06-04)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Asteraceae
Described by
A.Gray
Native to
Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas +8
Wild records
1149 in range · 504 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 7 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (5 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 2 at a herbarium; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 36.50_-103.125, lapse-corrected -31 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 70 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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