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Onopordum L.
Carolus Linnaeus

Carl Linnaeus was a Sweden botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern alpha taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology....
 is a genus of about 40 species of thistle
Thistle

Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaf with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the plant family Asteraceae....
s belonging to the family Asteraceae
Asteraceae

The family Asteraceae or Compositae is the largest family of flowering plants, in terms of number of species.The name 'Asteraceae' is derived from the type genus Aster , while 'Compositae', an older but still valid name, means composite and refers to the characteristic inflorescence, a special type of pseudanthium found in o...
, native to Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 (mainly the Mediterranean region), northern Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
, the Canary Islands
Canary Islands

The Canary Islands are a Spain archipelago which, in turn, forms one of the Spanish Autonomous Communities and an Outermost Region of the European Union....
, the Caucasus
Caucasus

The Caucasus or Caucas is a geopolitical region located between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. It is home to Europe's highest mountain ....
, and southwest and central Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
. They grow on disturbed land, roadsides, arable land and pastures.

They are biennials
Biennial plant

A biennial plant is a flowering plant that takes two years to complete its biological lifecycle. In the first year the plant grows leaves, stems, and roots , then it enters a period of dormancy over the colder months....
 (rarely short-lived perennials
Perennial plant

A perennial plant or perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. When used by gardeners or horticulturalists, this term applies specifically to perennial herbaceous plants....
) with branched, spinose winged stems
Plant stem

A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaf, inflorescence , conifer cones or other stems etc....
, growing 0.5-3 m tall. In the first season they form a basal rosette of gray-green felted leaves
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
 and rarely a few flower
Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
 heads.






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Onopordum L.
Carolus Linnaeus

Carl Linnaeus was a Sweden botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern alpha taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology....
 is a genus of about 40 species of thistle
Thistle

Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaf with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the plant family Asteraceae....
s belonging to the family Asteraceae
Asteraceae

The family Asteraceae or Compositae is the largest family of flowering plants, in terms of number of species.The name 'Asteraceae' is derived from the type genus Aster , while 'Compositae', an older but still valid name, means composite and refers to the characteristic inflorescence, a special type of pseudanthium found in o...
, native to Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 (mainly the Mediterranean region), northern Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
, the Canary Islands
Canary Islands

The Canary Islands are a Spain archipelago which, in turn, forms one of the Spanish Autonomous Communities and an Outermost Region of the European Union....
, the Caucasus
Caucasus

The Caucasus or Caucas is a geopolitical region located between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. It is home to Europe's highest mountain ....
, and southwest and central Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
. They grow on disturbed land, roadsides, arable land and pastures.

They are biennials
Biennial plant

A biennial plant is a flowering plant that takes two years to complete its biological lifecycle. In the first year the plant grows leaves, stems, and roots , then it enters a period of dormancy over the colder months....
 (rarely short-lived perennials
Perennial plant

A perennial plant or perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. When used by gardeners or horticulturalists, this term applies specifically to perennial herbaceous plants....
) with branched, spinose winged stems
Plant stem

A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaf, inflorescence , conifer cones or other stems etc....
, growing 0.5-3 m tall. In the first season they form a basal rosette of gray-green felted leaves
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
 and rarely a few flower
Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
 heads. In the second season they grow rapidly to their final height, flowering extensively, and then die off after seed maturation.

The leaves are dentate or shallowly lobed to compound with several pinnatifid or deeply cut leaflets, and strongly spiny
Spine (biology)

In biology, spine or spiny may refer to:*Spine , needle-like structures in plants*Spine , needle-like structures in animalsSpine may also refer to:...
.

The terminal flower head is typical for thistles, a semi-spherical to ovoid capitulum
Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches....
 with purple (seldom white or pink) disc florets. There are no ray florets. The receptacle is glabrous with dentate margins. The tube of the corolla is slender, sac-shaped and symmetrical. The anthers have awl-shaped outgrowths on the top. The capitula have several overlapping rows of leathery basal simple linear-lanceolate spines. These are smooth to slightly pubescent.

These plants propagate only by seed
Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
. The seed heads mature in mid-summer, releasing their seeds. The fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
 is a glabrous achene
Achene

An achene is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are "monocarpellate" and wikt:indehiscent . Achenes contain a single seed that nearly fills the pericarp, but does not adhere to it....
, 4-6 mm long and with 4-50 ribs. The pappus consists of many rows of simple, fine to minutely rough hairs, united in a circular base.

Onopordum species are used as food plants by the larva
Larva

A larva is a young form of animal with indirect developmental biology, going through or undergoing metamorphosis .The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly....
e of some Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
 species including Coleophora onopordiella
Coleophora

Coleophora is a very large genus of moths of the family Coleophoridae with around 1000 described species. The genus is represented on all continents but the majority are found in the Nearctic and Palaearctic regions....
 (feeds exclusively on O. acanthium).

Selected species
  • Onopordum acanthium
    Cotton thistle

    Onopordum acanthium is a flowering plant in the Family Asteraceae. Other common names include, Scotch Thistle, and Scotch Cotton Thistle. Native to Europe, North Africa and Asia, it is a vigorous, Biennial plant with coarse, spiny leaves and conspicuous spiny-winged stems....
     L. - Cotton Thistle, Scotch Thistle, Scotch Common-Thistle, Heraldic Thistle, Woolly Thistle
    Onopordum Bracteatum1
    *Onopordum acanthophorum Gand.
  • Onopordum acaulon L. - Stemless Thistle, Horse Thistle, Stemless Onopordum
  • Onopordum alexandrinum Boiss.
  • Onopordum anatolicum (Boiss.) Eig.
  • Onopordum anisacanthum Boiss.
  • Onopordum arenarium M.Hossain & M.A.A.Al-Sarraf
  • Onopordum argolicum Boiss.
  • Onopordum armenum Grossh.
  • Onopordum bracteatum Boiss. & Heldr.
  • Onopordum candidum Nab.
  • Onopordum caricum Hub.-Mor.
  • Onopordum caulescens d'Urv.
  • Onopordum cinereum Grossh.
  • Onopordum corymbosum Willk.
  • Onopordum davisii Rech.f.
  • Onopordum dissectum Murb.
  • Onopordum frickii Tamamsch.
  • Onopordum heteracanthum C.A.Mey.
  • Onopordum humile Loscos
    Illustration Onopordum Acanthium0
    *Onopordum illyricum
    Onopordum illyricum

    Onopordum illyricum is a species of Onopordum. It is native the southestern Europe, but has been introduced into Australia and California, where it has become a noxious weed....
     L. - Illyrian Thistle, Illyrian Cottonthistle
  • Onopordum jordanicolum Eig.
  • Onopordum laconicum Heldr. & Sart. ex Rouy
  • Onopordum leptolepis DC.
  • Onopordum macracanthum Schousb.
  • Onopordum majorii Beauverd
  • Onopordum messeniacum Halácsy
  • Onopordum nervosum Boiss. - Moor's Cottonthistle
  • Onopordum nivescens Gand.
  • Onopordum nogalesii Svent
  • Onopordum prjachinii Tamamsch.
  • Onopordum sarrafii C.C.Townsend
  • Onopordum seravschanicum Tamamsch.
  • Onopordum sirsangense Rech.
  • Onopordum tauricum
    Onopordum tauricum

    Onopordum tauricum is a species of Onopordum. It native to Eurasia, but has become a noxious weed in other places where it has been introduced....
     Willd. - Turkish Thistle, Taurian Thistle, Taurus Cottonthistle, Bull Cottonthistle
  • Onopordum transiens Gand.
  • Onopordum turcicum Danin


Natural hybrids
  • Onopordum × brevicaule (Onopordum acaulon × Onopordum acanthium )
  • Onopordum × erectum (Onopordum nervosum ssp. castellanum × Onopordum tauricum ssp. corymbosum )
  • Onopordum × macronervosum (Onopordum nervosum × Onopordum macrocanthum)
  • Onopordum × onubense (Onopordum dissectum × Onopordum macrocanthum)
  • Onopordum × spinosissimum (Onopordum illyricum × Onopordum acanthium)


Invasive problems

Some species of Onopordum have been introduced as ornamental plant
Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are typically grown in the flower garden or as house plants. Most commonly they are grown for the display of their flowers. Other common ornamental features include leaves, scent, fruit, Plant stem and bark....
s in the temperate regions of North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
 and Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, where they have become naturalised in the wild. In most of these countries, these thistles are considered noxious weed
WEED

WEED is a radio station broadcasting a Gospel format. Licensed to Rocky Mount, North Carolina, USA, it serves the area. The station is currently owned by Northstar Broadcasting Corporation....
s, especially in Australia where a biological control program has been set up (using the Rosette Crown Weevil
Weevil

A weevil is any beetle from the Curculionidae superfamily. They are usually small, less than 6 mm , and Herbivore. Due to the shape of their heads, weevils are commonly known as snout beetles....
, Trichosirocalus briesei).