MUSK THISTLE

Carduus Nutans

Daisy & Dandelion Family [Asteraceae]

12th June 2008, Head of Cressbrookdale, Derbyshire.

Photo: © RWD

Flower heads tend to be in singles on top of each stem, with heads having a tendency to droop groundwards.

12th June 2008, Head of Cressbrookdale, Derbyshire.

Photo: © RWD

Flowers not yet fully out.

19th July 2005, near Magpie Mine, Derbyshire.

Photo: © RWD

Paradoxically, heads droop melancholically on Musk Thistle rather than on Melancholy Thistle. The bracts are swept backwards. This one seems not as short nor as solidly built as the others here, and perhaps it is the hybrid between Musk Thistle and Welted Thistle.

19th July 2005, near Magpie Mine, Derbyshire.

Photo: © RWD

Stems and bracts are covered in white woolly hairs, but not as dense as they are on Woolly Thistle. This may be the hybrid between Musk Thistle and Welted Thistle.

12th June 2008, Head of Cressbrookdale, Derbyshire.

Photo: © RWD

Tends to have very prickly and spiny leaves.

12th June 2008, Head of Cressbrookdale, Derbyshire.

Photo: © RWD

The spiny bracts around the head are a light green in colour, but purple-tipped.

12th June 2008, Head of Cressbrookdale, Derbyshire.

Photo: © RWD

The pollen is a deep grey-blue. The fine woolly hairs spun like a cobweb going around from bract to bract.

12th June 2008, Head of Cressbrookdale, Derbyshire.

Photo: © RWD

The stems become a very pale whitish green near the drooping heads and covered in fine hairs.

Hybridises with : Welted Thistle. (Carduus crispus) to produce Carduus × strangii

Not to be confused with: Musk (a yellow Monkeyflower) nor with Melancholy Thistle, which does not droop its head as Musk Thistle does.

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Distribution
family8Daisy family8Dandelion family8Asteraceae

BSBI maps

Carduus