Cirsium Mill.

4 species naturalized Aust.; all states and territories except NT

*Cirsium vulgare (Savi) Ten.

Biennial herb up to 1 m high. Leaves basal and cauline, pinnatipartite, with spiny lobes, scabrous on the upper surface, white-woolly underneath. Heads in a terminal corymb. Involucre 2–3 cm diam.; bracts linear-lanceolate, green. Florets all tubular, purple. Cypselas oblong, glabrous, 5 mm long. Pappus of numerous plumose hairs 10–15 mm long. Widespread. Weed of pastures and waste places. Introd. from Europe; Asia and Africa. Fl. spring–summer. Spear Thistle