Spiny plumeless thistle

Description:

This thistle may exceed two meters in height and can form weedy monotypic stands. The stem and foliage are spiny and sometimes woolly. The plant starts from a flat basal rosette and then bolts an erect stem with occasional toothed, wrinkled, spiny leaves. At the top of each branch of the stem is an inflorescence of one to several flower heads, each rounded, covered in spiny phyllaries, and bearing many threadlike purple disc florets.

Habitat:

This plant is native to Europe but is well-known in many other parts of the world, including parts of North and South America, New Zealand, and Australia, as a noxious weed. In both native and non-native ranges this plant is a weed of roadsides, fields, and disturbed areas