Carduus pycnocephalus L.

Spice Capitulum Detail In the field

Family: COMPOSITAE (ASTERACEAE)

Genus: Carduus

Catalan common name: Card.

Spanish common name: Cardo.

Province distribution: Alacant. Balearic Islands. Barcelona. Castelló. Girona. Lleida. Tarragona. València.

Distribution in the islands: Mallorca. Menorca. Formentera. Cabrera.

General distribution (Phytogeography): Mediterranean

IUCN Category: LCLeast concern

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Hemicryptophyte. Terophyte.

Habitats: Cultivated fields, path and road sides, disturbed zones. Cultivated fields, path and road sides.

Characteristics: When it is in flower this thistle reaches over a metre with a stem which has the capitula at the top. This makes it different from other prickly Compositae which live in the same habitats, like Galactites tomentosa or Carlina corymbosa. The leaves and the stems are prickly. The stems have narrow wings covered with spines which run from top to bottom. The capitula have purple flowers, with bracts with spines too. It is a very important feature that some of the capitula are at the end of a thin leaf-stalk which is over 3 cm long. This feature allows it to be differentiated from Carduus tenuiflorus, which lives in the same habitats, and which forms the capitula in groups at the top of the stems and they are capitula without a leaf- stalk or with very short leaf-stalks.