Thistles of Adur

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2021

 

2 August 2021

 

     Dwarf Thistle

Lower slopes of Mill Hill

14 May 2021

 

Slender Thistle

 

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2020

 

2 August 2020

 

 

Spear Thistle

Mill Hill

 

Early > 4 June 2020

 

 

Creeping, Welted, Slender, Spear

Path either side of the River Adur between the Norfolk Bridge and the Toll Bridge

 

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2019

 

16 July 2019

It is remarkable that in the middle of July a different set of flowers become dominant on the levels and Mill Hill. On the lower slopes of Mill Hill, the Dwarf Thistle was a first arrival for 2019, and the Musk Thistle was only noted for the first time this year.The green shoots of Carline Thistle appeared.

 

30 April 2019

On the downs near Truleigh Hill there was a fenced in area of a hundred plus Welted Thistles in flower.

 

19 May 2019

There were over a hundred Slender Thistle in flower on the river bank between the new development of Ropetackle North and the River Adur with one Welted Thistle and the prickly leaves of Spear Thistle.

 

 

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2018

 

 

 June 2018

 

Musk, Creeping, Slender

Welted, Dwarf

 

 

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26 June 2018

 

Welted Thistle

Shoreham Beach, Estuarine

 

On the bare ground as a result of the new tidal walls west of the Ferry Bridge, Slender Thistle was just about finished flowering, Welted Thistle was in full flower, and Spear Thistle was budding, expected to flower a in a day or two. Creeping Thistle was in flower elsewhere.

 

 

7 June 2018

 

Slender Thistle

Shoreham Beach

6 June 2018

 

Musk Thistle

Mill Hill

 

 

2017

 

 

5 & 6 October 2017

 

Creeping Thistle

Mill Hill Upper Meadow

 

24 August 2017

 

 

Musk Thistle

6 July 2017

 

Spear Thistle

25 July 2017

 

Musk, Dwarf, Welted, Spear

Musk, Creeping

Creeping	Carline (dead)	Musk Carduus nutans
Creeping Cirsium arvense	Dwarf (=Stemless)	Dwarf (=Stemless)
Slender Thistle ???	Spear Cirsium vulgare	Dwarf (=Stemless) Carduus acaulis
Dwarf (=Stemless)	Carline	Creeping
Carline	Carline Carlina vulgaris	Carline
Lesser Burdock  Arctium minus	Prickly Sow-thistle  (a Daisy) Sonchus asper	Prickly Sow-thistle Sonchus asper

Welted Thistle Carduus crispus	Musk Thistle Carduus nutans	Musk Carduus nutans

Welted Thistle Carduus crispus	Welted Thistle (Flash photograph)	Welted Thistle

Cotton Thistle, Onopordon acanthium, in the cattle pasture to the east of Mill Hill. This is a naturalised alien plant over a metre in height. June 2005 Thistle ID by Ray Hamblett (Lancing Nature)

Creeping Thistle	Musk Thistle  (Mill Hill)	12 July 2005 Cotton Thistle, Onopordon acanthium

3 July 2005 Cotton Thistle, Onopordon acanthium, in the cattle pasture to the east of Mill Hill	12 July 2005 Cotton Thistle, Onopordon acanthium, in the cattle pasture to the east of Mill Hill

Welted Thistle from Lancing Clump	Stemless Thistle Seed Head from the Mill Hill Reservour Area (north)	Slender Thistle from  Lancing Beach near Widewater

2 September 2016

21 June 2009 On a breezy mostly overcast day the most interesting observation were twenty or more small bees on the flower heads of the Musk Thistle on the side of the path as it runs past the Reservoir on the southern part of Mill Hill. It looks like a female Osmia spinulosa to me. Bee ID by Stuart Roberts Adur Bees 2009

8 July 2007 Musk Thistle was beginning to go to seed on Mill Hill.

21 July 2008
 

28 September 2008
Carline Thistle was in all three forms, the dead plants were grey including the leaves, the new growths have orange heads and green leaves, but some of the orange heads were furring up and the prickly leaves were turning brown.

September 2008
 

In the study above, we see Carline Thistle in the central photograph still with green leaves before they turn orange and then brown.

August 2008
 

July 2008
 

In this study of Carline Thistle we see the old dead plants still in place as the new growths first appear on the lower slopes of Mill Hill.

11 July 2008 Five species of thistlewere recorded in flower on Mill Hill including the first Stemless Thistle of the year on the lower slopes, as well as Spear Thistle, Welted Thistle, the impressive Musk Thistle and the ubiquitous Creeping Thistle.

26 May 2008 The first thistle of the year was seen in flower on the towpath a few metres north of Old Shoreham Toll Bridge. This was a Welted Thistle, Carduus crispus. Broader heads, darker flowers, gap in stem-spines just below flower head, compared to the Slender Thistle. Comments by Malcolm Storey (Bioimages) Cardueae (“thistles”) on Bioimages Carduus crispus on Bioimages Carduus tenuiflorus Curtis (Slender Thistle) on Bioimages

Arctium lappa    GREATER BURDOCK
Arctium minus   LESSER BURDOCK
Carduus crispus   WELTED THISTLE
Carduus nutans   MUSK THISTLE
Carduus tenuiflorus   SLENDER THISTLE
Carlina vulgaris   CARLINE THISTLE
Cirsium acaule    STEMLESS or DWARF THISTLE
Cirsium arvense    CREEPING THISTLE
Cirsium palustre    MARSH THISTLE
Cirsium vulgare   SPEAR THISTLE
Onopordum acanthium   COTTON THISTLE
Silybum marianum    MILK THISTLE
Sonchus arvensis   PERENNIAL SOW THISTLE
Sonchus asper   PRICKLY SOW-THISTLE
Sonchus oleraceus   SMOOTH SOW-THISTLE
 

Genera in the Asteraceae with the word thistle often used in their common names include:

Arctium – Burdock
Carduus – Musk Thistle and others
Carlina – Carline thistle
Centaurea – Star thistle
Cicerbita – Sow thistle
Cirsium – Common Thistle, Field Thistle and others
Cnicus – Blessed thistle
Cynara – Artichokes, Cardoon
Echinops – Globethistle
Notobasis – Syrian thistle
Onopordum – Cotton thistle, also known as Scots thistle or Scotch thistle
Scolymus – Golden thistle or oyster thistle
Silybum – Milk thistle
Sonchus – Sow thistle

From Wikipedia

Flora of Shoreham-by-Sea (List)

Adur Nature Notes 2008