WELTED THISTLE

Carduus crispus

Daisy & Dandelion Family [Asteraceae]

Flowers:

Pappus:

(white)

8th June 2007, Bowcombe Down, Carisbrooke, IOW.

Photo: (CC by 2.0) Geoff Toone

A well-branched spiny thistle growing from 30cm to 1.2m (up to 1.5m).

8th June 2007, Bowcombe Down, Carisbrooke, IOW.

Photo: (CC by 2.0) Geoff Toone

Fewer leaves than most other thistles. The stems have a continuous narrow and wavy, spiny wings from bottom to very nearly the flowers at the top.

22nd Aug 2014, Four Marks, Hampshire.

Photo: © Simon Melville

Leaves occur just beneath branches. They are spiny and wavy. [Some of the magenta flowers here are those of Great Willowherb].

8th June 2007, Bowcombe Down, Carisbrooke, IOW.

Photo: (CC by 2.0) Geoff Toone

Flower heads magenta and globed, 15-20mm across and stalked, in small clusters of 2-4 (sometimes as few as 1 or as many as 5)

8th June 2007, Bowcombe Down, Carisbrooke, IOW.

Photo: (CC by 2.0) Geoff Toone

The stems are a little grey-white woolly, as are the threads between the spines (= bracts) immediately beneath the flowerhead. The bracts are variably washed a magenta hue.

11th Aug 2011, Cheverton Down, Shorewell, IOW.

Photo: (CC by 2.0) Geoff Toone

The redness of this flowerhead is false and due to the exposure. Corolla is about 14mm long. The flowers are magenta coloured and concolorous with the magenta-coloured 4-petalled flowers of Great Willowherb as seen below.

22nd Aug 2014, Four Marks, Hampshire.

The wings on the stem may or may not be continous, but they occur over almost the entire length of the stems.

22nd Aug 2014, Four Marks, Hampshire.

Wings on stem have almost regularly spaced clusters of larger wings with several spines each.

Hybridizes with : Musk Thistle. (Carduus nutans) to produce Carduus × stangii which is rare.

Some similarities to : Slender Thistle which also has spiny winged stems from foot to head, but the flowers are smaller and narrower (only 5-10mm across not counting the florets. The flowers are almost stalkless and in tight clusters of between 3 and 10 flowers. Slender Thistle is also usually shorter, at just 15 - 60cm and grows only near the sea.

The pappus has a plume of simple hairs. It is locally common, and found in the UK south of Edinburh, but mainly avoiding mountainous areas, the Cheshire Plain, Sussex, Kent, Devon and Cornwall and almost the whole of Wales. There is very little occurrence in Ireland. It grows in grassy places on fertile moist soils, preferring chalk or chalky boulder-clay. Found on field edges, verges, woodland rides, beside streams and on waste ground.

USE BY BUTTERFLIES

LAYS EGGS ON	CATERPILLAR	CHRYSALIS	BUTTERFLY
	✓		✓
	Painted Lady		Adonis Blue Brown Hairstreak Dark Green Fritillary Essex Skipper High Brown Fritillary Large Heath Marbled White Silver-spotted Skipper Small Skipper Silver-washed Fritillary

Crispin B is an IsoQuinoline alkaloid, which reputedly has anti-cancer properties and is found in Welted Thistle.

Carduus

crispus

⇐ Global Aspect ⇒

Asteraceae

Distribution
family8Daisy family8Dandelion family8Asteraceae
BSBI maps

Carduus
(Thistles)