page_title: Cirsium eatonii
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Cirsium eatonii / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Blooming plant of Eaton's Thistle or Mountaintop Thistle, Cirsium eatonii (A. Gray) B. L. Robinson var. eriocephalum (A. Gray) Keil. Ski Santa Fe, Santa Fe County, New Mexico, U.S.A., elevation about 3400 m. Thanks to Patrick Alexander for ID.
context_page_description: Cirsium eatonii, commonly known as Eaton's thistle or mountaintop thistle, is a North American species of flowering plants in the aster family.
  The species has been found in Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah and Colorado.
context_section_description: Cirsium eatonii is highly variable.  It is an erect herb up to 150 cm (60 inches or 5 feet) tall in some populations. The entire foliage is more or less spiny. One plant produces several flower heads with pink to purple or yellow flowers. The species grows at high elevations in grasslands, sagebrush steppes, open savannahs, etc.
  Varieties
  A number of varieties have been identified, which include:
  Cirsium eatonii var. clokeyi - Clokey thistle, Spring Mountains thistle, white-spine thistle - Nevada
  Cirsium eatonii var. eatonii - Nevada, Utah
  Cirsium eatonii var. eriocephalum - alpine thistle, mountain thistle - Colorado, New Mexico, Utah
  Cirsium eatonii var. hesperium  - tall mountain thistle - Colorado
  Cirsium eatonii var. murdockii - northern mountain thistle - Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming
  Cirsium eatonii var. peckii - ghost thistle, Steens Mountain thistle  - Nevada, Oregon
  Cirsium eatonii var. viperinum - Snake Range thistle - Nevada
caption: Var. eriocephalum in northern New Mexico.
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