Nodding Thistle Flowers

The three most common thistle species are Musk, Bull and Tall. I found these Musk or commonly called, Nodding Thistle plants in a field last summer.

In early May to August, the flowers appear. A mature nodding thistle flower can reach a height of 6 feet tall and the large disc-shaped flower head will droop or nod, hence their common name. In this group, there is only one mature flower head.

Inside each flower head there are hundreds of tiny flowers which are approximately 1 1/2" to 3 1/2" long. Approximately one month later, the flowers turn to seeds. Just one flower head can produce 120,000 seeds which can be blown for miles by the wind. And to make matters worse, the seeds can remain viable in the soil for up to ten years! No wonder these plants are considered to be a noxious weed and hard to control.

Nodding thistle is a member of the Aster family and is native to Europe and Asia. In the early 1800's, these monsters were introduced to the eastern U.S. and can be found throughout the U.S. except for Florida, Vermont, Maine, Alaska and Hawaii.

Can you imagine how painful it would be to fall into a group of these?

Thanks for stopping by!

I am a proud member of the@whalepower community.