Weeds of Australia - Fact Sheet

Top Scientific Name Synonyms Family Common Names Origin Naturalised Distribution Notes

Scientific Name

Cirsium vulgare (Savi) Ten.

Synonyms

Carduus lanceolatus L.
Carduus vulgaris Savi

Family

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

Common Names

bank thistle, bird thistle, black thistle, blue thistle, boar thistle, bull thistle, bur thistle, button thistle, common bull thistle, common thistle, Fuller's thistle, green thistle, plume thistle, roadside thistle, Scotch thistle, spear thistle, swamp thistle

Origin

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

Naturalised Distribution

A very widely distributed species that is naturalised throughout the southern and eastern parts of Australia. It is very common in south-eastern Queensland, the southern and eastern parts of New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria and Tasmania. It is also common in the south-western parts of Western Australia and the south-eastern parts of South Australia. Scattered infestations are present in other parts of Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia, and it is also naturalised on Lord Howe Island.

Naturalised overseas in other parts of Africa and Asia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, South America, Hawaii and other Pacific islands.

Notes

Though this species is primarily a weed of agricultural areas (particularly pastures), it is also regarded as an environmental weed in parts of Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales. It spreads from pastures, crops, waste areas and roadsides into disturbed native grasslands, open woodlands and conservation areas. During a recent survey, spear thistle (Cirsium vulgare) was listed as a priority environmental weed in three Natural Resource Management regions.