West Highland Flora

Marsh Thistle


Cirsium palustre

 

Cirsium palustre

Photo © Carl Farmer
29 Jun 2003 Broadford, Skye

Very common in damp ground including moorland, marshes, roadsides, croft land and beside burns.

Flowerhead diameter c 10-15 mm

ID: Stem spiny.  Leaves with spiny edges but not spiny on leaf surface.

Other features: Involucral bracts purplish, flowerheads clustered at ends of stems and branches.  In some populations there are plants with pink flowers as well as normal ones.  A biennial, over-wintering as a large ground rosette.

 

Cirsium palustre

Photo © Carl Farmer
29 Jun 2003 Broadford, Skye

 

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