Musk Thistle (Carduus nutans): An Undesirable Range Plant

Ecology of Musk Thistle (Carduus nutans) Seed Germination for Grasslands of Temperate Climates

Musk thistle is an invasive weed that is widely distributed throughout much of North America, including grasslands in temperate climates of the midwest USA. A series of laboratory and greenhouse experiments were conducted to determine the effect of various environmental factors on germination of musk thistle seeds. In temperature-fluctuation experiments, seed germination was greater than 65% in...

Inheritance of Flower Color in Musk Thistle (Carduus thoermeri)

Four flower-color phenotypes were observed in a population of musk thistle (Carduus tboermeri Weinm.). This plant has been commonly referred to as C. nutans L. The four phenotypes were: purple corolla and purple pollen, pink corolla and white pollen, white corolla and purple pollen, and white corolla and white pollen. In four generations, 177 self-pollinated individuals of these four phenotypes...

Root Growth of Two Perennial Grass Types and Musk Thistle (Carduus nutans) in Temperate Grasslands of North America

FATTY ACID COMPOSITION OF Carduus nutans SEEDS

Carduus nutans L. is a biennial plant which is belonging to Asteraceae family known as musk or nodding thistle commonly. Carduus species includes different active ingredients like essential oil, resin, tannin, fatty oil, starch, flavonolignans, polyacetylenes. Importance of phytochemistry and chemical ecology researches increase gradually. The fat extraction was carried out by Soxhlet method wi...

Variation in herbivore-mediated indirect effects of an invasive plant on a native plant.

Theory predicts that damage by a shared herbivore to a secondary host plant species may either be higher or lower in the vicinity of a preferred host plant species. To evaluate the importance of ecological factors, such as host plant proximity and density, in determining the direction and strength of such herbivore-mediated indirect effects, we quantified oviposition by the exotic weevil Rhinoc...