Seasonal Wild Flowers

Welted Thistle

Carduus crispus

Asteraceae

June to September

It is found throughout the country.

See the BSBI distribution map for Welted Thistle

It grows at the edges of fields and woods, in damp hedges

and long grass, on waste ground, and by paths, streams,

ditches, roads and railways.

Welted Thistle is a tall, very prickly, native, biennial herb

growing up to 1.5m.

Flowerheads are up to 3cm with spreading, softly spiked,

green bracts.

The florets are purple tubes, split into 5 arms.

The pappus is unbranched.

Stems are stiffly prickly with an underlating spiked margin.

They are not spiked immediately below the flowerheads,

Leaves are dull green on the upper surface, pinnatifid with

3-lobed segments. They are cottony below.

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Welted Thistle, Beaminster, Dorset

Soft-spiked bracts, naked upper stem

Flowerhead, hermaphrodite florets

Close-up of florets

Thistledown - unbranched

Stiffly-prickled, winged stem

3-lobed, pinnatifid leaf