03/03/2026
Charity Island one of the few spots that you can spot a Pitcher’s thistle (Cirsium pitcheri).
The Pitcher’s thistle is one of many rare and declining species inhabiting dunes of the Great Lakes region.
This distinctive dune plant, often referred to as the dune thistle, was first noted by Dr. Zina Pitcher about 1827 at the Grand Sable Dunes of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Pitcher’s thistle is a monocarpic (flowers and sets seed only once), perennial, herbaceous plant, generally flowering after a 5-8 year juvenile stage. The stems and leaves of juveniles and adults are woolly-white, and the leaves are deeply pinnatifid with the lobes less than 1 centimeter (cm) wide and up to 4 cm long.
A big thank you to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for your continued attention to saving this endangered plant.
Learn more: https://www.fws.gov/species/pitchers-thistle-cirsium-pitcheri
