Carduus acanthoides

Carduus acanthoides may exceed 2 metres (6.6 ft) in height and can form weedy monotypic stands.[1] The plant starts from a flat, basal rosette and then bolts an erect stem with occasional toothed, wrinkled, spiny leaves.[4] At the top of each branch of the stem is an inflorescence of one to several flower heads, each rounded, covered in spiny phyllaries, and bearing many threadlike, purple or pink disc florets.[1] Carduus acanthoides is native from France, Italy, and western Turkey; through Russia and Kazakhstan; to China.[4] In Michigan and Wisconsin, it does not occur in remnant, native habitats, but rather those with a history of disturbance, such as railroad right-of-ways, roadsides, and farm fields.
flower headsScientific classificationPlantaeTracheophytesAngiospermsEudicotsAsteridsAsteralesAsteraceaeCarduusBinomial namebiennial plantthistleEuropeinvasive speciesspecific epithetinflorescencephyllariesdisc floretsachenespappusnativeKazakhstangrasslandspasturesnoxious weedCalifornia Department of Food and AgricultureChicagoMichiganWisconsinremnant, native habitatsGermplasm Resources Information NetworkAgricultural Research ServiceUnited States Department of AgricultureWikidataWikispeciesiNaturalistNatureServeObservation.orgOpen Tree of LifePlant ListTropicosVicFlora