Bull Thistle
Cirsium vulgare, Sunflower Family ( Compositae ), Bull Thistle. Also called: Spear Thistle, Fuller’s Thistle and Lance - Leafed Thistle.
Bull thistle is an annual or biennial, herbaceous plant that invades disturbed areas throughout the United States.
Height: Up To About 2 - 5 Feet Tall.
Flowers: The purplish flower heads are 1.5 - 3 inches in diameter and 1 - 3 inches long with narrow, spine-tipped bracts.
Blooming Time: June to September.
Fruit: Seeds are light-colored with dark brown to black longitudinal stripes. Seeds are generally 1/16 inch long, oblong, somewhat flattened or curved, with a long, white, hairy plume.
Leaves: 3 - 12 inches long, Alternate, pinnately lobed to pinnatifid, sessile or with winged petioles, glabrous to scabrous above, with spines
from veins, pubescent below . Leaf margins are double dentate. Leaf bases decurrent on stem. Leaf lobes ending in strong spine.
Found: Throughout USA. Including Arizona. Native to Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa.
Elevation: 5,000 to 7,000 feet.
Habitat: Commonly found in pastures, prairies, disturbed sites, waste ground, roadsides, railroads. Normally in pinion pine, chaparral, or shrub oak forests.
Miscellaneous: Flowering Photos Taken August 27, 2008. Black Canyon Lake, Arizona located at 7,067 feet, in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest between the towns of Payson and Heber-Overgaard.
