Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Carduus tenuiflorus
Common name
Winged slender thistle, Slender thistle
Family
Asteraceae
Where found
Grassy areas, roadsides and disturbed sites. Western Slopes, tablelands, and the ACT. Sporadic elsewhere.
Notes
Introduced annual herb to 1.6m tall. Spiny leaf margins, stems, and flower bases. Stems somewhat hairy to hairless, winged, the wings continuous, with spiny lobes, to 10 mm wide. Basal leaves 5-20 cm long, 20-80 mm wide, upper surface green and hairy, lower surface white and cobwebby, leaves deeply divided, margins spiny. Stem leaves similar but smaller, alternating up the stems, 5-15 cm long, 20-60 mm wide, hairy, deeply dissected into spiny lobes, stem-clasping, the bases continuing down the stems as wings. Flower heads green, cylindrical, about 15-20 mm long, with many pink or purple florets 10-14 mm long, 0 petals, in dense clusters of 3-10 flower heads. Flowers Spring to Summer.
,Pest plant ACT. Noxious weed Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Carduus~tenuiflorus (accessed 7 January, 2021)
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