SONCHUS ASPER subsp. ASPER

Family and Genus:- See- COMPOSITAE

Common Names:- Prickly sowthistle

Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Sonchus (Gr) Thistle.

Asper (L) Rough.

General description:- Annual, glabrous, but base of the capitula and upper part

of the stem and peduncles often glandular-hairy.

Stem:-

1) 10-120(-200) cm, sometimes branched.

Leaves:-

1) Glabrous:

a) lower, spathulate, entire to pinnatifid

b) upper, entire to pinnatisect, with triangular-ovate to linear, dentate lobes and

rounded, sometimes dentate auricles.

Flowers:-

1) Golden-yellow, 20-25 mm, borne in lax clusters;

2) Involucral bracts, 35-45.

3) Ligules, shorter than corolla-tube.

Fruit:-

1) Achenes, 2-3 x 1 mm, strongly compressed and more or less winged, elliptical

to broadly oblanceolate, smooth between the ribs, the margins and ribs often

with sparse spinules on the margins and ribs.

2) Pappus, 6-9 mm, more or less deciduous. Pollen-grains 35-42 µm.

Key features:-

1) Stem, not woody; achenes 2-3·75 mm.

2) Achenes, smooth at least between the ribs, strongly compressed and ± winged.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Cultivated fields, roads, wasteground, coastal habitats. 0-700(-1300) m.

Distribution:- Widespread and common throughout the Mediterranean, but not

Cyprus and parts of the E. Mediterranean. Limited distribution on Crete.

Flowering time:- Mar-Aug.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton & Fotis Samaritakis