Perennial Sow-thistle

Sonchus arvensis

Please keep in mind that it is illegal to uproot a plant without the landowner's consent and care should be taken at all times not to damage wild plants. Wild plants should never be picked for pleasure and some plants are protected by law.
For more information please download the BSBI Code of Conduct PDF document.

Plant Data

Flowering Months:

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

Order:

Asterales

Family:

Asteraceae (Daisy)

Also in this family:

Annual Sunflower, Autumn Hawkbit, Beaked Hawksbeard, Black Knapweed, Black-eyed Susan, Blanketflower, Blue Fleabane, Blue Globe-thistle, Bristly Oxtongue, Butterbur, Buttonweed, Canadian Fleabane, Canadian Goldenrod, Carline Thistle, Chalk Knapweed, Coltsfoot, Common Blue Sow-thistle, Common Cat's-ear, Common Daisy, Common Dandelion, Common Fleabane, Common Goldenrod, Common Groundsel, Common Michaelmas Daisy, Common Mugwort, Common Ragwort, Confused Michaelmas Daisy, Corn Marigold, Cornflower, Creeping Thistle, Dwarf Thistle, Early Goldenrod, Feverfew, Fox and Cubs, Gallant Soldier, Garden Lettuce, Goat's Beard, Great Lettuce, Greater Burdock, Greater Knapweed, Grey-headed Hawkweed, Heath Groundsel, Hemp Agrimony, Hoary Ragwort, Lavender-cotton, Leopardsbane, Lesser Burdock, Lesser Hawkbit, Marsh Cudweed, Marsh Ragwort, Marsh Thistle, Melancholy Thistle, Mexican Fleabane, Mountain Everlasting, Mouse-ear Hawkweed, Musk Thistle, Narrow-leaved Ragwort, New England Hawkweed, Nipplewort, Oxeye Daisy, Oxford Ragwort, Perennial Cornflower, Pineapple Mayweed, Ploughman's Spikenard, Pot Marigold, Prickly Lettuce, Prickly Sow-thistle, Red-seeded Dandelion, Rough Hawkbit, Scented Mayweed, Scentless Mayweed, Sea Aster, Sea Mayweed, Seaside Daisy, Shaggy Soldier, Shasta Daisy, Shrub Ragwort, Silver Ragwort, Smooth Hawksbeard, Smooth Sow-thistle, Sneezeweed, Sneezewort, Spear Thistle, Spotted Cat's-ear, Sticky Groundsel, Tansy, Trifid Bur-marigold, Tyneside Leopardplant, Wall Lettuce, White Buttons, Winter Heliotrope, Wood Burdock, Yarrow

Type:

Flower

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Maximum Size:

150 centimetres tall

Habitats:

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

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.

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

Distribution Map

Reproduced by kind permission of the BSBI.

Click to open an Interactive Map