Common name:
Slender thistle
Family:
Scientific name:
Carduus tenuiflorus
Main flower color:
Range:
Most common along the coasts of south and southwest England
Height:
Up to 100 cm
Habitat:
Dry, grassy places, mainly coastal
Flowers:
Flowerheads are relatively narrow and tightly clustered, at the top of the stem, for which branches, if present, are very short. Florets are pale to dark pink, while the involucral bracts are broad, hairless, ovate to lanceolate in shape, curving outwards towards the apex, and topped by a spine
Leaves:
Pinnatifid; partly divided into triangular lobes, each further divided into three spine-tipped segments, their edges lined with smaller spines. Sparsely covered by cottony hairs. On stems that have continuous spiny wings, from base to tip
Season:
June to August
Rarity:
★★★★★
