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Cirsium vulgare
Also called Bull Thistle, Boar Thistle, Scotch Thistle, Black Thistle, Common Thistle, Green Thistle, Scottish Thistle
Spear thistle is a spiny biennial (sometimes annual) weed of disturbed ground, pastures and roadsides, valued by pollinators. It is grown rarely as an ornamental; it is best kept out of gardens because it spreads by seed.
Cirsium vulgare, commonly known as spear thistle, bull thistle, or common thistle, is a species of the Asteraceae genus Cirsium, native throughout most of Europe (north to 66°N, locally 68°N), Western Asia (east to the Yenisei Valley), and northwestern Africa (Atlas Mountains). It is also naturalised in North America, Africa, and Australia and is an invasive weed in several regions. It is the national flower of Scotland.
The plant provides a great deal of nectar for pollinators. It was rated in the top 10 for most nectar production (nectar per unit cover per year) in a UK plants survey conducted by the AgriLand project which is supported by the UK Insect Pollinators Initiative. Marsh thistle, Cirsium palustre, was ranked in first place while this thistle was ranked in sixth place.
Spear thistle is often a ruderal species, colonising bare disturbed ground, but also persists well on heavily grazed land as it is unpalatable to most grazing animals. Nitrogen-rich soils help increase its proliferation. The flowers are a rich nectar source used by numerous pollinating insects, including honey bees, wool-carder bees, and many butterflies. The seeds are eaten by goldfinches, linnets and greenfinches. The seeds are dispersed by wind, mud, water, and possibly also by ants; they do not show significant long-term dormancy, most germinating soon after dispersal and only a few lasting up to four years in the soil seed bank. Seed is also often spread by human activity such as hay bales.
The stems can be peeled (removing their spiny surfaces) and then steamed or boiled. They are often pickled in cajun cuisine. The tap roots can be eaten raw or cooked, but are only palatable on young thistles that have not yet flowered. The dried florets steeped in water are used in rural Italy for curdling goats' milk in preparation for making cheese. In Iran, cleaned stems are used in the dish Khoresh-e-Kangar (thistle stem stew).
Creeping Thistle · Edible thistle · Elk thistle · Yellow thistle · Marsh Thistle · Brook Thistle · Meadow thistle · Wavyleaf thistle · Thistle
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cirsium vulgare by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
