Weeds of Australia - Fact Sheet

Top Scientific Name Family Common Names Origin Naturalised Distribution Notes

Scientific Name

Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop.

Family

Asteraceae (Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory)
Compositae (South Australia)

Common Names

boar thistle, bull thistle, California thistle, Californian thistle, Canada thistle, Canadian thistle, corn thistle, creeping thistle, perennial creeping thistle, cursed thistle, field thistle, green thistle, hard thistle, perennial thistle, small-flowered thistle, smallflowered thistle, swamp thistle

Origin

Native to Europe (i.e. Denmark, Finland, Ireland, UK, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, western Russia, Ukraine, Albania, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia, France, Portugal and Spain) and western Asia (i.e. Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkmenistan).

Naturalised Distribution

Widely naturalised in the wetter parts southern parts of Australia (i.e. in eastern New South Wales, southern and eastern Victoria, Tasmania, south-eastern South Australia and the coastal districts of south-western Western Australia).

Also widely naturalised overseas in New Zealand, Africa, the USA (including Hawaii), Canada, Mexico, South America and the Mascarenes.

Notes

Perennial thistle (Cirsium arvense) is primarily a weed of agricultural areas (i.e. pastures and crops), roadsides, waste areas and disturbed sites in Australia, however it also spreads from these areas into native grasslands and open woodlands that have been disturbed. It is primarily of concern in cooler temperate regions and was recently listed listed as a priority environmental weed in one Natural Resource Management region.

Perennial thistle (Cirsium arvense) also appears in the Global Invasive Species Database. In other parts of the world it has been found to threaten natural communities by competing with and displacing native vegetation, decreasing species diversity, and changing the structure and composition of some habitats. For example, in the USA it invades conservation areas and is thought to be a threat to several endangered plant species.