Field Guide to Noxious and Other Selected Weeds of British Columbia

Nodding Thistle (a.k.a. Musk Thistle) (Carduus nutans)

biennial taprooted thistle growing to 2.5 metres tall; stems are spiny and winged except below the flower head; leaves are deeply lobed and spiny margined; large purple flowers (2.5 to 5 cm across) droop down or "nod" at maturity; flowerhead bracts end in a strong, sharp spiny tip
sometimes confused with plumeless thistle (Carduus acanthoides) which has smaller flowers (less than 2.5 cm broad) with flower stalks spiny-margined right to the base of the flowerhead
Photo courtesy BC Ministry of Forests

Large flowers with spine-tipped bracts "nod" at maturity

Photo courtesy Rosamund Pojar, Mountainview Ecological Services

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