Perennial Sow-thistle

Sonchus arvensis

Plant Data

Order:

Asterales

Family:

Asteraceae (Daisy)

Type:

Flower

Flowering Months:

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Flower:

Yellow, many petals

Large yellow dandelion-like flowers with dark green hairy bracts in clusters, up to 5cm wide.

Fruit:

Dark brown, oblong, flattened achenes, narrower at the base and ridged, or wrinkly. There is a pappus of white hairs present at one end.

Leaves:

The stem leaves clasp their stems and have rounded basal lobes. They are smooth with toothed margins. Slightly spiny.

Maximum Size:

150 centimetres tall

Foraging Notes:

The leaves are edible, raw or cooked. Bitter-tasting. Cook and use it like you would spinach. The stems are edible and young roots can be cooked and eaten too.
Never consume a wild plant unless you are 100% certain that it is safe to eat and you know that you have identified it correctly.

Aroma:

Faintly aromatic.

Other Names:

Corn Sow-thistle, Creeping Sow-thistle, Dindle, Field Milk Thistle, Field Sow-thistle, Gutweed, Hare's Colewort, Hare's Lettuce, Hare's Palace, Swine Thistle, Swinies, Tree Sow-thistle.

Frequency (UK):

Common

Habitats:

Ditches, farmland, fens, grassland, marshes, roadsides, seaside, wasteland, waterside.