Common Name: Common Thistle

General Information

Cirsium vulgare is a prickly, biennial plant growing from a long taproot; it produces a basal cluster of leaves and an erect, flowering stem around 30 - 150cm tall[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food, medicine and source of materials.
Cirsium vulgare is a pernicious weed that spreads freely by means of its seed which can be dispersed by the wind over a large area. The seedlings are capable of establishing themselves in grassland. The plant has become naturalized as a weed in many parts of the world[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

,

Range

Eurasia - from the Atlantic coast east to western Siberia, western China (Xinjiang), Pakistan and Arabia (Yemen); N. Africa - Morocco, Algeria

Habitat

Fields, waysides, gardens and waste places to 600 metres[].

Properties

Weed Potential	Yes
Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Biennial
Height	2.00 m
Pollinators	Bees, Flies, Lepidoptera, Beetles, Self
Self-fertile	Yes
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Cirsium species are generally easily grown plants, succeeding in any ordinary garden soil in a sunny position[].
This plant is a pernicious weed and should not be encouraged, and if growing on your land should be cut down before it sets seed. What better way of discouraging it is there than eating it?

Edible Uses

Root - cooked[]. A taste somewhat like a Jerusalem artichoke, but not as nice[]. A rather bland flavour, the root is best used mixed with other vegetables[]. The root can be dried and stored for later use[]. The root is rich in inulin, a starch that cannot be digested by humans. This starch thus passes straight through the digestive system and, in some people, ferments to produce flatulence[].

Young flower stems - cooked and used as a vegetable[, ].

Young leaves can be soaked overnight in salt water and then cooked and eaten[]. Another report says that they can be used in salads[]. The taste is rather bland but the prickles need to be removed from the leaves before the leaves can be eaten - not only is this a rather fiddly operation but very little edible matter remains[].

Flower buds - cooked. Used like globe artichokes[, ], but smaller and even more fiddly.

The dried flowers are a rennet substitute for curdling plant milks[].

Seed - occasionally eaten roasted[].

Medicinal

The roots have been used as a poultice and a decoction of the plant used as a poultice on sore jaws[].

A hot infusion of the whole plant has been used as a herbal steam for treating rheumatic joints[].
A decoction of the whole plant has been used both internally and externally to treat bleeding piles[].

Other Uses

A fibre obtained from the inner bark is used in making paper. The fibre is about 0.9mm long[]. The stems are harvested in late summer, the leaves removed and the stems steamed until the fibres can be stripped off. The fibres are cooked with lye for two hours and then put in a ball mill for 3 hours. The resulting paper is a light brown tan[].

The seed of all species of thistles yields a good oil by expression[]. No details of potential yields etc are given[].

The down makes an excellent tinder that is easily lit by a spark from a flint[].

Propagation

Seed - sow early spring or autumn in situ. Germination usually takes place within 2 - 8 weeks at 20°c[]. A pernicious weed, it really needs no encouragement from us.