Stats

Lifespan: Biennial
Size: Small
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Temperate grassland
Range: Europe and Western Asia
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Spines
Status: Common

About

Bull Thistle is a stout biennial weed covered in sharp spines, topped with vivid magenta-purple flower heads that are a favourite nectar source for bumblebees and monarch butterflies. Its winged, spine-tipped stem makes it one of the prickliest thistles in the world.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Cirsium
Species: Cirsium vulgare