| Scientific Name: | Cirsium vulgare |
| Common Name: | bull thistle |
| Family Name: | Asteraceae |
| Origin: | Africa, Europe |
| Hardiness Zone: | Zone 2: (-46 to -40 °C) |
| Plant Type: | Biennial, Weed (horticultural) |
| Mature Size: | 0.7 - 1.3m x 0.3 - 0.6m (height x width) |
| Habit: | Upright |
| Form: | Vase |
| Texture: | |
| Landscape Uses: | |
| Exposure: | Full sun, Part sun/part shade |
| Soil or Media: | |
| Leaves: | Simple, Lobed, Alternate, Basal, Prickly, Pinnate venation, Elliptic, Spinose |
| Flowers: | Head (capitulum), Purple, Pink, May-Jun-Jul |
| Fruit: | Cypsela (achene + calyx), White, Brown, Jul-Aug-Sep-Oct |
| Key ID Features: | |
| Biennial that forms a taproot and has spiny wings up the length of its stem; leaves are stoutly spined, grey-green, deeply lobed basal leaves up to 15–25cm long, with smaller leaves on the upper part of the flower stem; the leaf lobes are spear-shaped; heads 2.5–5cm wide, florets appear all the same. | |