Marsh Thistle - Cirsium palustre
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Species Description
Stace 4:
Cirsium palustre (L.) Scop. - Marsh Thistle.
Erect biennial to 2m; stems leafy to top, with very spiny wings; leaves rather deeply lobed, strongly spiny; capitula often crowed, 0.8-1.5 x 0.7-1.2cm (excluding flowers); flowers purple; 2n=34. Native; marshes, damp grassland and open woods, ditchsides; common throughout British Isles.
key:
- Flowers purple, rarely white
- Stems continuously spiny-winged; biennial with taproot