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Scotch Thistle

(Onopordum acanthium L.)

Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

 

▲▼ scotch thistle seedlings

▲▼ scotch thistle seedlings, young plants

 

▲▼ scotch thistle seedlings, young plants 

▲▼ scotch thistle seedlings, young plants

▲▼ scotch thistle seedlings, young plants

▲▼ scotch thistle seedlings, young plants

▲▼ first year  plants with woolly leaves

▲ center of first year plant rosette showing dense white hairs

▲▼ second-year plant beginning to elongate flowering stem; lower leaves on above plant are nearly 2 feet long

▲ second-year plant beginning to elongate flowering stem

 

 ▲▼ wide, continuous, spine-edged wings on stem help distinguish Scotch Thistle from other large thistles

  ▲▼ wide, continuous, spine-edged wings on stem

 

  wide, continuous, spine-edged wings on stem help even up to base of inflorescences

 ▲ hollow stems

▲ ▼ mature, flowering plants (late July) in Colorado, about 6 feet tall and almost as wide

 

▲ mature, flowering plant in western Nebraska 

 

▲ mature, flowering plant in Warnemunde, Germany

▲▼ mature, flowering plant

▲▼ mature, flowering plant 

mature, flowering plant, again showing spiny, winged stems

 

▲ inflorescence in bud 

▲▼ inflorescences, showing round-spine-tipped bracts below inflorescence

▲▼ inflorescences 

 

 

▲ flattened receptacle during flowering senesecence

 

▲▼ inflorescence receptacle, showing pits that hold seeds/achenes

 

 

seeds 

Scotch Thistle 

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