Carduus nutans L.
Musk Thistle (Common Harebell; nodding plumeless thistle; nodding thistle)
Asteraceae (Aster family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Musk Thistle (Common Harebell; nodding plumeless thistle; nodding thistle)
Asteraceae (Aster family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Biennial herb; stems glabrous, not spiny, 0.3-2.4 m tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves lacking; stem leaves lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate in outline, deeply lobed or pinnately cut, up to 40 cm long and 15 cm wide, nearly glabrous or glabrous, spiny-margined.
Flowers:
Heads discoid, 2-8 cm wide, solitary and nodding at the ends of branches; involucres hemispheric; involucral bracts with prominent midribs, the inner lanceolate, often twisted, tips unarmed, the middle and outer egg-shaped 2-8 mm wide, spreading or reflexed, glabrous, tipped with a 3-4 mm spine; disk flowers reddish-purple.
Fruits:
Achenes glabrous, egg-shaped, light brown with darker longitudinal lines and a narrow, lighter rim at the tip; pappus whitish, minutely finely-barbed bristles.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia