Patch-forming plant with small lilac heads, honey-scented, on stems that lack spiny wings; each plant carries only male or only female flowers
Creeping thistle - Cirsium arvense.
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Creeping thistle
Native · perennial, flowers June to October · field edges, verges, waste ground
Cirsium arvense — Asteraceae
Creeping thistle is the thistle that forms dense patches from deep creeping roots. Unlike spear thistle, its stems have no spiny wings, and its flower heads are small and lilac. Legally an 'injurious weed' but ecologically valuable, its fluffy seeds feed goldfinches and other farmland birds.
How to spot them
- ▸Small (1.5-2.5 cm), pale lilac-pink, vanilla- or honey-scented heads in loose clusters
- ▸Stems upright, furrowed, without spiny wings, unlike most British thistles; up to 1.2 m
- ▸Wavy-edged, spiny-toothed leaves, with little or no down
- ▸Spreads by deep creeping roots to form large patches; male and female flowers on separate plants
- ▸Compare: spear thistle - large single heads, cottony stems with prickly wings; marsh thistle - tall, spiny-winged stems, clustered dark heads in damp ground
How to know it
Deep, spreading roots let it re-sprout from fragments and form dense colonies across field edges
Creeping thistle - hence 'creeping'.
Named in the Weeds Act 1959 alongside spear thistle, common ragwort, curled dock and broad-leaved dock
Creeping thistle - one of the five injurious weeds.
Masses of fluffy, wind-borne seeds in late summer are an important food source for farmland birds, particularly goldfinches
Creeping thistle - Wildlife Trusts.
The genus name is from Greek for 'swollen vein', a plant once used to treat varicose veins
Creeping thistle - Cirsium from kirsion.
Told from the spiny-winged, big-headed biennial of pastures by its slim, unwinged stems and small pale heads
Creeping thistle (spear thistle, Cirsium vulgare, is the look-alike).
Quick-fire facts
- •Wildlife Trusts: flowers June to October; height up to 1.2 m; seeds are an important food source for declining farmland birds
- •Weeds Act 1959: one of five injurious weeds; the others are spear thistle, common ragwort, curled dock and broad-leaved dock
- •Dioecious: separate male and female plants (functionally); unlike most British thistles, its stems are unwinged
- •Root system can reach deep and creeps horizontally, so cutting alone often increases it
- •The scent of the flowers attracts many bees, hoverflies and butterflies; caterpillars of the painted lady feed on thistles
- •In North America it is called Canada thistle, though it is Eurasian in origin
- •The goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis, takes its Latin name from carduus, the Latin word for thistle
- •It can be a nuisance on grazing land, and Natural England can issue enforcement notices
Drill it — 6 cards
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Sources
- The Wildlife Trusts — Creeping thistle
- legislation.gov.uk — Weeds Act 1959