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Get the iPhone app Browse the guideSpear Thistle
Cirsium vulgare
Also called Bull Thistle, Common Thistle, Scotch Thistle
This is a weed
This thistle spreads aggressively by windborne seed. Its sharp spines also make weeding painful.
How to get rid of it
- Cut off the fluffy seed heads right now. Put them directly into household waste.
- Wear thick leather gloves to protect your hands.
- Dig deep with a garden fork to remove the entire taproot.
- Check the spot next spring for baby rosettes and slice them off early.
About Spear Thistle
This is a tough biennial weed native to Ireland. It forms a flat rosette in year one. In year two it sends up tall spiny stems with purple flowers.
- Type
- Biennial herbaceous weed
- Height
- 3–5 ft
- Spread
- 2–3 ft
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Low once established
- Soil
- Any soil, prefers fertile or disturbed ground
- Hardiness
- Hardy to -20 °F
- Flowers
- July to September
- Growth
- Upright and branched
- Toxicity
- Not known to be toxic, but the spines cause painful skin punctures
- Native to
- Europe, Western Asia, North Africa
How to recognise it
- Stems have continuous prickly wings running down them
- Deeply lobed green leaves tipped with sharp stiff spines
- Large seed heads topped with fluffy white down
- Deep thick taproot that anchors firmly in soil
Reference photos
Compare what's in your garden with confirmed photos of Spear Thistle.
Photos from iNaturalist contributors.
Written by Garden Rescue from photo identifications, in US units. Local advice from your extension service or garden centre beats a general guide.