Scotch Thistle

Scotch Thistle

COMMON NAME:	Scotch Thistle
SCIENTIFIC NAME:	Onopordum acanthium
TYPE:	Biennial Cool-season Broadleaf
DESCRIPTION
Germination:	Late Spring to Summer (June through August).
Reproduction:	By seeds.
Stems:	The stems of the Scotch Thistle are erect, simple to usually much branched on the upper portion of the plant, with broad and spiny wings formed by leaf bases, the surface is densely to sparsely tomentose.
Flowers:	The flowers are numerous and purple to violet or reddish to pinkish-white in color.
Leaves:	The leaves are alternate, simple bladed, oblong to oblanceolate in shape, and are coarsely lobed or toothed with spines. The rosette leaves are also oblong to oblanceolate in shape and coarsely lobed but unlike the stem leaves they have sparsely to densely tomentose that gives a bluish- or grayish-green appearance to the leaves.
Fruit:	The fruit is a one-seeded achene that is brown to grayish black and is distinctly wrinkled. The pappus is of slender bristles.
Found:	The Scotch Thistle is found primarily in pastures, rangeland, feed yards, ravines, around ponds, roadsides, disturbed sites, railroad rights-of-way, and waste places.
Control:

	Oklahoma State University Stillwater, OK
Oklahoma Alfalfa Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station