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Portrait of Marsh thistle

Nature · Wildflowers & flowers

Marsh thistle

Native · flowers Jun–Sep · wet meadows, fens, ditches and bogs

Cirsium palustre — Asteraceae

A tall, dark, narrow thistle of wet grassland, marshes and damp woodland edges, with spiny-winged stems and clusters of small purple flower-heads. Its seeds are eaten by goldfinches, and the flowers attract bees and butterflies. It is fairly common throughout Britain.

How to spot them

  • ▸Tall (about 1.2 m), narrow, dark and spiny, with spiny wings running continuously down the stem to the flower clusters
  • ▸Narrow, deeply lobed, soft-spined leaves
  • ▸Dense clusters of small purple flower-heads (occasionally white), each about 10–12 mm across, from late June into September
  • ▸Grows in wet grassland, fen, bog, ditches and wet woodland edges
  • ▸Look-alike: creeping thistle has smooth, unwinged stems and prefers drier ground; spear thistle has large, solitary heads and broken stem wings

How to know it

A tall, spiny-winged, narrow thistle with clustered small purple heads grows in a wet meadow

Marsh thistle, Cirsium palustre.

Separated from a relative with smooth, unwinged stems by its continuous spiny wings and its wet habitat

Marsh thistle versus creeping thistle.

Its fluffy seeds feed goldfinches, and the flowers attract bees and butterflies

Marsh thistle.

Spreads by its roots to form large clumps in ditches, fens and marshes, its seeds carried on feathery parachutes

Marsh thistle.

A thistle of ditches, fens and bogs, a member of the daisy family, flowering from late June

Marsh thistle, Asteraceae.

Quick-fire facts

  • •Family Asteraceae, the daisy family; each 'flower' is a head of many small florets
  • •First Nature: fairly common in Britain and Ireland, flowering from late June into September, up to about 1.2 m
  • •Its seeds have feathery pappus for wind dispersal and feed small birds, especially goldfinches
  • •Flowers attract bees and butterflies; it is a late-summer nectar source in wet meadows
  • •Invasive in North America and New Zealand, where it was introduced
  • •Creeping thistle (Cirsium arvense) differs by its smooth, non-spiny stems and preference for drier ground
  • •Biennial or short-lived perennial; spreads vegetatively by roots to form clonal stands
  • •Native

Drill it — 6 cards

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Sources