Musk thistle is a non-native biennial forb but can behave occasionally as an annual. Musk Thistle a.k.a. Introduced into the United States as an ornamental plant in the mid 1800s. How people can help Although they might not look especially wildlife-friendly, our roadside verges, railway cuttings and waste grounds can provide valuable habitats for all kinds of plants and animals. The seeds contain a fixed oil that is rich in linoleic acid. Carduus nutans, with the common names musk thistle, nodding thistle, and nodding plumeless thistle, is a biennial herb in the Asteraceae—sunflower family. and bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare [Savi. Family Asteraceae Scientific Name Carduus nutans ← → Other Common Names: plumeless thistle. plumeless thistle. The C. nutans group has almost continuous variation in several morphological characteristics, and intermediates between taxa can be found . Musk Thistle. Musk thistle is also known as nodding thistle and nodding plumeless thistle. Foliage Leaves are green and lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate. The flower head is formed of numerous narrow disc florets, rich purple in color, and reaching a diameter of 2 inches. The stem has very spiny wings. It is native to regions of Europe and Asia. Scientific name:Carduus nutans Nicknames: Nodding thistle Claim to fame: Musk thistle has become one of the better-known exotic nuisance plants in … ]), also non-native in the US. Musk thistle is similar to Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense [L.] Scop.) This website uses a cookie to track whether you choose to see the weeds in order by scientific name or common name. Thistle is the old English name - essentially the same in all kindred languages - for a large family of plants occurring chiefly in Europe and Asia, of which we have fourteen species in Great Britain, arranged under the botanical groups Carduus, Carlina, Onopordon and Carbenia, or Cnicus. The flowers of the Musk thistle have a sweet, musky smell, hence the common name. Or apply in combination – dicamba with 2, 4-D ester. Appearance Carduus nutans is an herbaceous, biennial plant that grows to 6 ft. (1.8 m) tall. Its scientific name is Carduus nutans L. of the family Asteraceae (Sunflower family). Herb: Musk Thistle Latin name: Carduus nutans Family: Compositae Medicinal use of Musk Thistle: The flowers are febrifuge and are used to purify the blood. Description of the plant: This has proved of benefit in the prevention of atherosclerosis. However, musk thistle can be distinguished from other thistles by its large, disk-shaped, apical flower heads. Carduus species may hybridize with each other. This report uses Carduus nutans L. as the scientific name for the musk thistle complex as it occurs in North America [8,17,37,42,53,60,67,74,87,94,112,128,130]. – Nodding thistle, Nodding Plumeless thistle Scientific name: Carduus nutans L. Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family) Description Origin: Eurasia. 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