Flora of New Zealand Series

Scotch thistle

Taprooted biennial. Stems branched, with soft multicellular and fine cobwebby hairs, (20)-50-150-(200) cm tall, ribbed, with broad, dentate, spiny wings between lf bases. Lvs oblanceolate or narrowly oblanceolate, deeply pinnatifid (subentire to shallowly pinnatifid in seedlings), dark green above, paler beneath, (7)-10-30-(40) × 4-10-(20) cm, with short, stiff, pale, spinous bristles above and dense cobwebby tomentum beneath; lf lobes deltoid to lanceolate to linear; prickles pale, 4-10 mm long. Subfloral lvs linear, short to long, sometimes investing capitula. Capitula ovoid, waisted at flowering, erect, 2.5-6 × 2.5-5 cm, solitary or in clusters of 2-3; peduncles 0-2 cm long. Outer involucral bracts linear, with cobwebby margins; apex acuminate, with strong spine 3-4-(6) mm long, recurved to patent. Inner involucral bracts linear, becoming ciliate; apex acute, not spinous, erect. Corolla purple, 28-33 mm long; lobes 5-6 mm long. Style exserted c. 3 mm beyond corolla lobes. Achenes pale, narrowly obovoid, c. 4 × 1.5 mm; pappus 20-25 mm long; cilia on pappus bristles 5-6 mm long.

N.; S.; St.; K., Ch.: throughout.

Eurasia, N. Africa 1867

Waste land, roadsides, pastures, gardens, cultivated land, disturbed forest.

FL (Oct)-Nov-Mar-(May) FT Dec-May.

Some collections from Canterbury, Otago and Southland have robust, often longer spines on the outer and middle involucral bracts, and also long linear subfloral lvs closely investing the capitula. These plants approach forms of C. vulgare from France and Spain which from time to time have been accorded sp. rank as C. crinitum DC.  Werner, K., in Fl. Europ. 4 : 237-238 (1976), treated C. crinitum as a synonym of C. vulgare, noting that "...there is insufficient morphological and chorological delimitation to give ... subspecific rank".

C. vulgare has also been known in N.Z. as C. lanceolatum, Cnicus lanceolatus, and Carduus lanceolatus. It has also been known by the common name spear thistle as in Britain. In Britain the name Scotch thistle is often given to Onopordum acanthium.