Broad-winged Thistle

Also known as Spiny Plumeless Thistle, Welted Thistle, Plumeless Thistle

Spiny plumeless thistle spends its first year hugging the ground as a dense, spiky basal rosette before bolting into a tall, branched stalk lined with continuous spiny wings. Vibrant reddish-purple flower heads bloom individually or in small clusters from summer through early autumn, releasing thousands of plumed seeds that ride the wind into disturbed pastures, abandoned fields, and roadsides. Armed against herbivores with fierce prickles on virtually every surface, it readily crowds out palatable grasses and forms dense, impenetrable thickets across introduced ranges.