Creeping Thistle

Description: Creeping thistle (Chinese: 丝路蓟 ) is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae, native throughout Europe and northern Asia, and widely introduced elsewhere. Their Stems 30–150 cm, slender green and freely branched,[18] smooth and glabrous (having no trichomes or glaucousness), mostly without spiny wings. Leaves alternate on the stem with their base sessile and clasping or shortly decurrent. The leaves are very spiny, lobed, up to 15–20 cm long and 2–3 cm broad (smaller on the upper part of the flower stem). The inflorescence is 10–22 mm diameter, pink-purple, with all the florets of similar form (no division into disc and ray florets). The flowers are usually dioecious, but not invariably so, with some plants bearing hermaphrodite flowers.[18] The seeds are 4–5 mm long, with a feathery pappus which assists in wind dispersal.1–5 flower heads per branch, with plants in very favourable conditions producing up 100 heads per shoot.[15] Each head contains an average of 100 florets. Average seed production per plant has been estimated to 1530. More seeds are produced when male and female plants are closer together as flowers are primarily insect-pollinated.

Locations in Campus: Lakeside

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