Prickly sowthistle
Sonchus asper
Family · Asteraceae · Irritating
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The sowthistle that pricks. It grows beside the smooth sowthistle, is identical at a distance, and is told apart by the leaf margin and by the ears clasping the stem, coiled into a spiral.
Town and roadside · Fields and pasture · Roadsides and waste ground · Streams and ditches
Also known asspiny sowthistle, sharp-fringed sowthistle
How to tell it
A leaf margin with spiny teeth that genuinely prick when you run a hand over them, and a stiff glossy leaf. The two ears clasping the stem are rounded and coil in on themselves, unlike the pointed ears of smooth sowthistle.
What it is confused with
Sow thistle
Sonchus oleraceus
Run a hand along the margin: this one pricks, the smooth one does not. And the ears clasping the stem: coiled and round here, pointed and straight on the smooth one. Both edible, but only one is worth it.
What it is for
Eaten cooked, like smooth sowthistle, but far less pleasant: the leaf is stiff and the prickles do not fully soften. Universal food for rabbits and hens.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.
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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