Creeping thistle
Cirsium arvense
Family · Asteraceae · Irritating
The thistle that spreads by roots and so always appears in dense patches, never alone. The flowers are small, lilac and honey scented, and it is among the hardest thistles in the world to eradicate.
Fields and pasture · Roadsides and waste ground · Town and roadside · Streams and ditches
Also known asCanada thistle, field thistle
How to tell it
A stem without spiny wings, unlike spear thistle, which is the quickest difference. Cut leaves with fine marginal spines. Small heads, one to two centimetres, pale lilac, many per plant and grouped at the top. The bracts are narrow, ending in a short weak spine.
What it is confused with
Spear thistle
Cirsium vulgare
Run a hand carefully down the stem: spear thistle has continuous spiny wings running down from the leaves, creeping thistle has a smooth stem. And spear thistle has large solitary heads, this one small grouped ones.
What it is for
No use to recommend
It is an agricultural pest throughout the northern hemisphere because a root fragment a few centimetres long gives rise to a new plant. On the other hand it is among the best nectar sources for butterflies on farmland.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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