Tuesday, June 16, 2015

June 16 Bull Thistles Impose Their Will


As more and more plants bloom, it’s getting easy to spot invaders that we’d rather not have around, including this bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare). Thistles belong to the same family as many of our prairie plants- the Asteraceae (sunflower) family- but they are usually less welcome than most of their cousins. The pink of the thistle flowers is certainly eye-catching, but thistles can easily overwhelm other plants in a field. Each plant produces a plethora of wind-dispersed seeds, and the bull thistle has extremely spiny stems. It certainly creates a daunting challenge if you’re trying to eliminate thistles in your patch of plants.

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