Scientific name:

Cirsium vulgare

Family: sunflower or Asteraceae

Genus: Cirsium

Tribe: Cynareae or thistle

Blooms: May - Oct

Plant Height: 0.3 - 2

Origin: Europe

Habitat: Disurbed places

About: Unlike the other Cirsium species on this page, this is alien and invasive — and later blooming. It has a large, round to vase-shape head and purple (occasionally white) flowers. Leaves are large, with long sharp spines at their tips, and they extend up the stem to just below the flower head.

*For more information about the family of flowers please click here!