Cirsium arvense

Botanical Description

Cirsium arvense is a herbaceous perennial plant growing from a slender taproot with far-creeping lateral roots from which grow numerous new, flowering and non-flowering, erect stems. The flowering stems can be 30 - 90cm tall, occasionally up to 150cm. The plant can spread rapidly by means of these roots and soon forms dense colonies of prickly growth[ 17 Title Flora of the British Isles. Publication Author Clapham, Tutin and Warburg. Publisher Cambridge University Press Year 1962 ISBN - Description A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures. ]. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food, medicine and source of materials. Cirsium arvense has spread as a weed through most temperate regions of the world. A pernicious weed, it spreads freely from its aggressive root system and also from its seeds which can be transported some distance in the wind. It rapidly invades disturbed soils and grassland and can quickly form dense clumps of growth. Eradication can be difficult because even a short length of root can regenerate and form now colonies of the plant[ 17 Title Flora of the British Isles. Publication Author Clapham, Tutin and Warburg. Publisher Cambridge University Press Year 1962 ISBN - Description A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures. ].