Common name:
Welted thistle
Family:
Scientific name:
Carduus crispus
Main flower color:
Range:
Common across all of England and Wales
Height:
Up to 120 cm
Habitat:
Waste ground, roadsides, hedgerows, grassland, open woodland; often in calcareous locations
Flowers:
Egg-shaped flowerheads, pointing upwards, around 2 cm in diameter, formed of numerous two-lipped, purple florets above a ring of spreading, narrow, green, spine-tipped phyllaries, partly covered with cottony hairs. Flowerheads form in small clusters (two or three), on stems which are lined with spiny wings
Leaves:
Pinnately twice lobed, with uneven length spines along the margins, and a sparse hair covering. Upper stem leaves are narrower and more deeply lobed
Season:
June to August
Rarity:
★★★★★
