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Bull Thistle

Bull Thistle

Cirsium vulgare

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How common: Common

Alien species

Bull thistle is a tall, very prickly biennial with large purple flower heads. It thrives in open, dry or disturbed places like roadsides, meadows and waste ground. Native to Europe, it is also widespread as an introduced plant in North America.

Did you know?

  • Scotland’s national flower.
  • Its seeds ride the wind on long, silky plumes.

About the species

Identification

A biennial: first year a ground-level circle of sharply spined leaves; second year a stout, ridged stem with broad spiny edges. 30–120 cm tall. Leaves deeply cut into side points; upper side densely prickly, underside gray and hairy; edges and tips end in long, strong, yellowish spines. Flower heads mostly single or a few together, about 3–4 cm across, usually purple to reddish. After flowering, each head releases small hard seeds with a long silky tuft. Compared with creeping thistle, it has bigger, mostly solitary heads and very spiny, edged stems. Flowers in Finland from July to September.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

yards and roadsides

Flowering

Jul–Sep

About the habitat

Dry to moderately dry, open ground: roadsides, meadows, pastures, yards, waste places, clearings and stony shores. Native and established. Common in southern and central Finland; absent from Lapland.

Sources

Photo: Roberto Daniel Avila, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/5938297708

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki leviäimet, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39885

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki versot, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39885

Text: Pinkka: A Pohjolan kasveja - Carex, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39885

Text: Pinkka: IPS-153 Flora of Subarctic Europe - Carex-Cirsium, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39885

Text: Pinkka (Luomus), CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39885

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piikkiohdake

See also