Common names:
Musk thistle, nodding thistle
Family:
Scientific name:
Carduus nutans
Main flower color:
Range:
Most parts of England and Wales
Height:
Up to 100 cm
Habitat:
Disturbed ground, roadsides, grassland, sand dunes
Flowers:
Large, solitary flowerheads that hang downwards when mature, attached by stout, hairy stalks which lack spines. Flowerheads, up to 6 cm in diameter, have dozens of thin, pink to purple florets above a involucre lined with spreading, purplish, lance-shaped, spine-tipped phyllaries
Leaves:
Deeply pinnately lobed, with spine-tipped margins and a covering of woolly hairs, on the upper surfaces and on the midvein below
Season:
June to August
Rarity:
★★★★★
