Botanical name: Cirsium verutum    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)
Synonyms: Cirsium argyracanthum, Cirsium involucratum, Cnicus argyracanthus

Common Thistle is a thistle with densely cottony-hairy stem upto 1.5 m. Basal leaves are linear, stalked, wiht many triangular lobes, each with large terminal spine and shorter lateral spines. Stem-leaves with spiny lobes and teeth, and heart-shaped clasping base. Flower-heads 2-2.5 cm across, with purple, mauve or pink disk florets, stalkless, in dense clusters surrounded by upper leaves. The bracts just below the flowers have wooly margins and strong erect or spreading terminal spines. Common Thistle is widespread in the cultivated areas and forest clearings of the Himalayas, from Afghanistan to Burma, at altitudes of 740-2200 m.

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The flower labeled Common Thistle is ...