Plants
Daisies
Sighting 4223578

Cirsium vulgare

Spear Thistle at Hughes, ACT

Cirsium vulgare at Hughes, ACT - 15 May 2019 10:00 AM
Cirsium vulgare at Hughes, ACT - 15 May 2019 10:00 AM
Cirsium vulgare at Hughes, ACT - 15 May 2019 10:00 AM
Cirsium vulgare at Hughes, ACT - 15 May 2019 10:00 AM
Cirsium vulgare at Hughes, ACT - 15 May 2019 10:00 AM
Cirsium vulgare at Hughes, ACT - 15 May 2019 10:00 AM
Request use of media

Identification history

Cirsium vulgare 27 May 2019 MichaelMulvaney
Cirsium vulgare 27 May 2019 BettyDonWood
Onopordum acanthium 27 May 2019 MichaelMulvaney
Onopordum acanthium 27 May 2019 ruthkerruish

Identify this sighting

Please Login or Register to identify this sighting.

User's notes

Several large patches of thistles in various stages of decay.

4 comments

Mike wrote:
   28 May 2019
This looks like Cirsium vulgare, spear thistle.
BettyDonWood wrote:
   28 May 2019
Unfortunately both Plantnet and Vicflora separate Onopordum from all the rest of the thistles on the basis that the top of the receptacle at the base if the florests is smooth, while in the other thistles it has bristles or scales. Not a character most people think to look at.
Cirsium vulgare flower heads are 12-50 mm wide, while those of Onopordum acanthium are 35-50 mm wide. The leaves of Onopordum acanthium are grey-green, the upper surface sparsely woolly. The leaves of Cirsium vulare are dark green and covered with small prickles. The stems of Cirsiu,m vulgare are cobwebby, while those of Onopordum acanthium are woolly or densely cobwebby, with wings about 10 mm wide. Neither Plantnet nor Vicflora mention any branching of the stems, which suggest that they do not branch.
Looking at what I can see of these characters in the photos, I am inclined to agree with Mike.
ruthkerruish wrote:
   28 May 2019
Thank you.
MichaelMulvaney wrote:
   28 May 2019
Thanks Betty and Mike - good pick up

Please Login or Register to comment.

Location information

Sighting information

Additional information

  • True In flower
  • 30cm to 1 metre Plant height

Species information

  • Cirsium vulgare Scientific name
  • Spear Thistle Common name
  • Not Sensitive
  • Exotic
  • Medium weed or pest
  • Up to 1389.77m Recorded at altitude
  • 197 images trained Machine learning
  • In flower

Record quality

  • Images or audio
  • More than one media file
  • Verified by an expert moderator
  • Nearby sighting(s) of same species
  • GPS evidence of location
  • Description
  • Additional attributes
833,212 sightings of 22,974 species from 14,457 members
CCA 3.0 | privacy
NatureMapr is developed by at3am IT Pty Ltd and is proudly Australian made