SPINY SOWTHISTLE
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| File Size: 44 KB |
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Sonchus asper (L. ) Hill
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| Riley County, Kansas |
| Annual |
| Height: 4-40 inches |
| Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family |
| Flowering Period: June, July, August, September,October |
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| Also Called: | | Prickly sowthistle. | | Stems: | | Erect, branched in inflorescence. | | Leaves: | | Alternate, stiff, obovate to ovate in outline, pinnately-divided to lobed or nearly entire, glabrous, margins wavy, with prickly spines, base clasping with rounded auricles; lower leaves 1.5 to 6 inches long, .4 to 3 inches wide; upper blades much reduced and less divided. | | Inflorescences: | | Heads, 3-25 in corymb-like cluster, terminal; heads flask-shaped, 1/2 to 1 inch wide; phyllaries lanceolate to linear, 1/3 to 3/5 inch. | | Flowers: | | Involcure up to 3/5 inch tall; florets 50-150, all ligulate, fertile; ligule shorter than corolla tube, corolla yellow. | | Fruits: | | Achenes, flattened, about 1/10 inch long, 3-5 ribs on each face; pappus of white, hair-like bristles, 1/4 to 1/3 inch long. | | Habitat: | | Moist disturbed sites, waste areas, gardens, roadsides, and cultivated fields. | | Distribution: | | Principally in the east 1/2 of Kansas, but scattered west. | | Origin: | | Introduced from Eurasia. | | Comments: | | This weedy species can accumulate nitrates, but is rarely consumed by livestock. Latin asper means "rough or "prickly". |
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| Spiny sowthistle inflorescence |  | | 44 KB | | Riley County, Kansas |
| | Spiny sowthistle leaves |  | | 92 KB | | Riley County, Kansas |
| | Spiny sowthistle leaf |  | | 72 KB | | Riley County, Kansas |
| | Spiny sowthistle |  | | 130 KB | | Riley County, Kansas |
| | Spiny sowthistle |  | | 57 KB | | Riley County, Kansas |
| | Spiny sowthistle pappus |  | | 83 KB | | Woodson County, Kansas |
| | Spiny sowthistle leaf |  | | 121 KB | | Reno County, Kansas |
| | Spiny sowthistle head |  | | 79 KB | | Reno County, Kansas |
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