Plants › Sunflowers, Daisies, Asters, and Allies

Italian thistle

Carduus pycnocephalus

Easily confused with

Study checks a spoken answer against these, and tells you which one you named.

Where it is recorded

Records by month in California.January 525, February 455, March 486, April 2,501, May 1,837, June 634, July 359, August 366, September 464, October 475, November 610, December 470.
California16,418
United States6,084
France540
Italy534
Spain427
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur290
Australia254
Centro208
Oregon200
Occitanie199

Counts show where people looked, not only where it lives.

Traits

Group and habits

Edibility, toxicity and medicinal traits are records from datasets, not advice. Never eat, handle or use a wild species on the strength of an app.

Classification

KingdomPlants · Plantae
PhylumVascular Plants · Tracheophyta
ClassDicots · Magnoliopsida
OrderSunflowers, Bellflowers, Fanflowers, and Allies · Asterales
FamilySunflowers, Daisies, Asters, and Allies · Asteraceae
Genusplumeless thistles · Carduus

Study it in a deck

Or build your own from the species near you.

Sources

Remember the name next time.

Practise Italian thistle with real photos from different observers. Say the name out loud, and it comes back just before you would forget it.