Everyone knows what a daisy looks like. Or do they? If you’re taking part in this week’s #wildflowerhour challenge to find members of the Asteraceae family, you might be realising that there are many, many different members of the daisy family, and though some of them look a bit like a common daisy, they’re all a little bit different and quite hard to distinguish.
Some people might be enjoying disappearing down the rabbit hole of the different micro species of hawkweed. But if you’re getting a bit dazed by daisies, why not try hunting for some reasonably easy members of Asteraceae? Thistles are beautiful, often quite common, and rather intriguing.
Here are some to look out for, from #wildflowerhour members:
Welted Thistle, Carduus crispus. A tall thistle with stems which are spiny winged until just before the flowering heads and a branched shape. The flowers are 15-25mm across and in dense clusters. Found in grassy areas and hedges. Read more here.
Marsh Thistle, Cirsium palustre. Could be confused with Welted Thistle, but is less branched and the stems are spiny-winged all the way, rather than stopping just before the flower head. It grows in marshy areas. Find out more here.
Creeping Thistle, Cirsium arvense. This thistle doesn’t creep along the ground, it creeps through the soil, spreading using rhizomes. It has lovely scented light purple flowers on short stalks and spiny leaves. More on this Thistle here.
Spear Thistle, Cirsium vulgare. A lovely chunky plant, with large rich purple flower heads, and sharp spiny bracts with a light sprinkling of threads between them. The stems have spiny wings and the spiky leaves are bristly on top. More here.
Musk Thistle, Carduus nutans. Superbly big nodding flower heads which are usually solitary. Grows on chalk or limestone. Read more.
Woolly Thistle, Cirsium eriophorum. A tall Thistle that isn’t prickly but instead has cottony hairs on it, and white wool webbing between the spiny bracts. There’s more here.
And there’s more…
Meadow Thistle, Cirsium dissectum. Find out more.
Tuberous Thistle, Cirsium tuberosum. Learn more.
Cabbage Thistle, Cirsium oleraceum. Details here.
Melancholy Thistle, Cirsium heterophyllum. Find out more.
Dwarf Thistle, Cirsium acaule. Identify it here.
There are other thistly members of this family – do have a leaf through a good wild flower book or tweet a picture using #wildflowerhour or post it in our Facebook group so we can add it to our ID list.
