Cirsium arvense
Asteraceae
June to October
It is found throughout the country.
See the BSBI distribution map for Creeping Thistle
It grows in rough grassy places - pastures, meadows,
roadsides, arable fields, gardens, brownfield sites and
waste ground.
Creeping Thistle is a native, perennial, rhizomatous herb,
which forms extensive patches and grows up to 2m+.
Flowerheads are pale lilac and up to 2cm across.
Male flower buds are slightly more spherical than the oval
female flower buds.
Florets split into 5 prongs (not easy to see).
The style forms a 2-lobed column with a ring of hairs at
the base.
Bracts are purplish with spreading spiny points.
Stems are spineless.
Leaves are very spiny, stiff and wavy.
It is listed as a noxious weed in Britain under the 1959
Weeds Act, but to little effect. It appears to be resistant
to herbicides and readily regenerates from rhizome
fragments caused by ploughing.
It is, however, susceptible to the Thistle Gall Fly -
Urophora cardui, which produces large galls - see last
picture.
Previous page: Creeping-Jenny
Next page: Cross-leaved Heath
Creeping Thistle -flowerheads 1
Creeping Thistle - flowerheads 2
Male flowerhead and buds
Male flowerhead
Close up of male florets
Female flowerhead
5-forked female florets
Stigma tubes with rings of basal hairs
Thistledown
Upper leaves, spineless stem
Close-up of upper leaf
Lower leaf
Flowerheads, upper leaves and buds
Gall produced by the Thistle Gall Fly
- Urophora cardui
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