Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Carthamus lanatus
Common name
Saffron thistle
Family
Asteraceae
Where found
Woodland, grassy areas, and disturbed sites. Widespread.
Notes
Introduced annual herb to 1.6 m tall. Spiny leaf margins. Flower heads surrounded by spiny bracts. Stems grooved, sparsely hairy to hairy, slightly sticky. Basal leaves to 30 cm long, about 60 mm wide, soon lost. Stem leaves alternating up the stems, 3-6 cm long, 10-30 mm wide, hairy to hairless, sticky, divided, with spiny basal lobes, margins with numerous spine-tipped teeth. Flower heads green, 25-30 mm long, with many cream to yellow florets 25–30 mm long, 0 petals. Flowers Spring to Summer.
General Biosecurity Duty all NSW. Pest plant ACT. Noxious weed Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Carthamus~lanatus (accessed 7 January, 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
