SONCHUS ASPER

Family and Genus:- See- COMPOSITAE

Common Names:- Prickly Sow-thistle.

Homotypic synonyms:- None.

Meaning:- Sonchus. From Greek sonchos, the ancient name for sow-thistles.
                  Asper. Latin, “rough” or “harsh”, referring to the stiffly prickly leaves.

General description:- An annual herb with milky latex, glossy prickly leaves and yellow ligulate capitula. Native in Great Britain.

Stems:-
1) Usually 30-100 cm high, erect, hollow, leafy and branched above.

Leaves:-
1) Lower, oblong to oblanceolate, toothed to pinnatifid and stiffly prickly at the
    margins.
2) Upper, alternate, sessile, glossy, clasping with broad rounded auricles, the
    margins sharply prickly.

Flowers:-
1) Capitula, yellow and ligulate, several to numerous in terminal clusters.
2) Involucral phyllaries, narrow, imbricate and usually glabrous or sparsely hairy.
3) Florets, all ligulate, bisexual and fertile, yellow, each ligule ending in 5 teeth.
4) Stamens, 5, with anthers united into a tube around the style.
5) Ovary, inferior, unilocular, with a single ovule.

Fruit:-
1) Cypsela, flattened, obovoid, with longitudinal ribs and without conspicuous
    transverse wrinkles.
2) Pappus, of numerous white simple bristles.

Distinguishing features:-
Distinguished from Smooth Sow-thistle by its darker glossy leaves with stiff sharp marginal prickles and broad rounded clasping auricles; the cypselas lack the conspicuous transverse wrinkling of S. oleraceus.

Flowering time:- June to October.

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Toxicity:- The plant contains milky latex. No significant poisoning syndrome is established; ingestion is not recommended without reliable identification.

Habitat:- Cultivated ground, gardens, waste ground, walls, road verges, coastal ground and other disturbed habitats.

Distribution:- Native and widespread throughout Great Britain and Ireland.

Conservation status:- Least Concern (LC) in Great Britain.

Photo by:- Steve Lenton & Fotis Samaritakis