creeping thistle
Cirsium arvense
A single plant's underground root system can spread up to 6 meters wide in one season, sending up dozens of genetically identical clones.
- Scientific name
- Cirsium arvense
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Asterales › Asteraceae › Cirsium
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- increasing
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Disturbed soils, agricultural fields, pastures, meadows, and roadsides.
- Diet
- Autotrophic (water, sunlight, and soil nutrients via photosynthesis).
- Range
- Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Australia
- Size
- 30 to 150 cm in height.
- Lifespan
- Perennial (individual stems are annual, but clonal root systems can survive for decades).
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Herbicides, agricultural tilling, and biological control agents such as specialized weevils and rust fungi.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless but highly defensive. The leaves are covered in sharp spines that can easily pierce bare skin. Avoid touching the plant without thick gardening gloves. If pricked, wash the area with soap and water to prevent minor irritation or secondary infection.
Cirsium arvense is a perennial species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native throughout Europe and northern Asia, and widely introduced elsewhere. The standard English name in its native area is creeping thistle .
Photo: Matt Lavin, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist
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