Pinecone thistle
Leuzea conifera
Family · Asteraceae · Harmless
The low plant that makes a perfect pinecone at ground level, with overlapping silvery scales and a tuft of pink florets emerging from the top. It looks like nothing else in the Iberian flora.
Scrubland · Uplands · Fields and pasture · Pine woods
Also known ascone knapweed
How to tell it
A rosette of divided leaves, white beneath, on a short or almost absent stem. The head gives it away: an oval cone three to five centimetres long, built of dry, shiny, overlapping scale-like bracts, with pink florets peeping out. It stands there dry all winter.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
Traditional medicinal use in Spain, as an infusion. For a walker it is a landmark: a plant of limestone and open scrub, and the dry cones stay recognisable on the ground out of flowering season.