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Cirsium horridulum
A tall branching stem with large yellow or red-purple flower heads and very spiny, clasping leaves. It grows 1-5 1/2 feet tall, and the leaves are 8-24 inches long.
Often found along the edges of salt marshes, it is also a pasture weed in the South, where it is frequently red-purple instead of yellow. Growing on a pond dam (old rice plantation) at the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge.
It was starting to bloom in very early March, which seemed odd.