Transcript Threatened Species! Threatened Species! Threatened Species!

Pitchers Thistle
Cirsium pitcheri
Threatened Species! Threatened Species! Threatened Species!
Description
• Blooms and sets seed
once during its lifetime
• Grows for five to eight years
before it flowers\
• Non-flowering form is a rosette or
cluster of silvery leaves
• Flowering form has one stem with
many branches
• Flowering plant may grow 3 feet
tall
• Cream or pink flowers grow at the
end of branches and from the leaf
axils
• Leaves are finely and deeply
lobed
• Leaves may be one foot long
Pitcher’s Thistle
Threatened Species! Threatened Species! Threatened Species!
Description
• Stems and leaves are
covered with white hairs
• Hairs give the plant a woolly
white or silvery appearance
• Hairs are an adaptation to
its beach environment
Pitcher’s Thistle
– help the plant retain water
– reflect the sun’s strong rays
• Spines are along the edges
of leaves near the base and
at the tips of some of the
lobes
• Long taproot, up to 6 feet
long.
Threatened Species! Threatened Species! Threatened Species!
Habitat
• Pitcher’s thistle grows on the open sand
dunes and low open beach ridges of the
Great Lakes’ shores.
• It is most often found in near-shore plant
communities but it can grow in all nonforested areas of a dune.
Threatened Species! Threatened Species! Threatened Species!
Reasons
• Loss of habitat due to human shoreline activities
• Construction of coastal roads
• Residential, condominium, and marina
development
• Creation and maintenance of public beaches
• Hikers trample Pitcher’s thistle which harms or
destroys the plants
• Off-road vehicles (ORV) traffic in dunes cause
erosion which creates unstable areas
Threatened Species! Threatened Species! Threatened Species!
Survival
• Programs to educate private and public property owners
about this species
• Project planning for marina development and road
construction to avoiding or minimizing harm to the species
• Avoid the use of invasive plants that have been imported
and compete with native plants
• When recreating in coastal areas, drive vehicles only where
authorized
• When hiking stay on established or authorized footpaths to
avoid harming rare plants like Pitcher’s thistle and
damaging fragile natural dune areas.
Threatened Species! Threatened Species! Threatened Species!
Credits
Pitcher Thistle - Threatened Species!
By : Amber and Micah
• http://midwest.fws.gov/endangered/plants/pitche
rs.html
• http://www.ncrs.fs.fed.us/gla/tesweb/plants/Plant
s_Main.htm
Edited by Mrs. Bradley 2004