Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Silybum marianum
Common name
Variegated thistle
Family
Asteraceae
Where found
Grassy areas, disturbed sites, damp sites, and along streams. Widespread.
Notes
Introduced annual or biennial herb to 3 m tall. Stems, leaf margins, and flower bases spiny. Stems ribbed, hairless to sparsely hairy. Leaves basal and alternating up the stems, flat or V-shaped in cross section, upper surface hairless and mostly green with a network of white areas, lower surface hairless or sparsely white-tomentose, margins spiny. Basal leaves dissected and toothed, 25-60 cm long, 120-300 mm wide. Stem leaves to 30 cm long, 20-200 mm wide, dissected or toothed, with stem clasping basal lobes. Flower heads 30-50 mm in diameter, green, more or less globular, with numerous purple to reddish-purple, rarely white, florets, 0 petals. Flowers Spring to Summer.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Silybum~marianum (accessed 6 February, 2021)
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