Onopordum acanthium L., Sp. Pl. 827. 1753; Rau & Rao in Bull. Bot. Surv. India 2: 425. 1960.

Eng.: Cotton thistle, Scotch thistle.

Herbs upto 3 m tall; stems striate, winged; wings triangular, floccose, spiny; spines yellow tipped. Leaves oblong-ovate, broadly lanceolate or ovate, sinuate-dentate or with broadly triangular teeth ending in spine, 30 x 25 cm, greenish green and sparsely lanate above. Heads solitary or upto 3. Involucral bracts spinescent, antrorsely scabrid on the margins. Achenes elliptic, subcompressed, variegated, transversely rugose. Pappus hairs 7 - 9 mm long plumose, deciduous.

Fl. June

Distrib. India: Jammu & Kashmir.

Europe.