Summary ⁵

Carduus nutans, with the common names musk thistle, nodding thistle, and nodding plumeless thistle, is a biennial herb in the Asteraceae—sunflower family. It is native to regions of Europe and Asia.

How to recognize it? ⁶

Solitary reddish-purple nodding flower head. Twisted dark green leaf with white midrib, spiny edges, fine woolly hairs.

Observations in Banff National Park ⁷

https://inaturalist.ca/observations?project_id=69401&taxon_id=76007&place_id=any&verifiable=any

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Robert Flogaus-Faust, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carduus_nutans_2_RF.jpg
2. (c) Matt Lavin, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carduus_nutans_(3811951156).jpg
3. (c) Michael Apel, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carduus_nutans_MichaD.jpg
4. Jacob Sturm, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carduus_nutans_Sturm13.jpg
5. Adapted by bioblitzbanff from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carduus_nutans
6. (c) bioblitzbanff, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
7. (c) metallyza, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

• iNaturalist.ca taxon page
• African Plants - a photo guide
• Atlas of Living Australia
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• Calflora
• CalPhotos
• eFloras.org
• Flora Digital de Portugal
• Flora of North America (beta)
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• Go Botany
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
• Jepson eFlora
• Maryland Biodiversity Project
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• NBN Atlas
• New Zealand Plant Conservation Network
• OregonFlora.org
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos
• USDA PLANTS database
• VASCAN by Canadensys
• World Flora Online

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