The thistle buds have finally popped open. People around here call them "bull thistles," but my field guide awards that name to a different species. I think this is the "Field Thistle," characterized by its deeply cut leaves and the felted white hairs on their undersides.
4 comments:
Besides I have you show a splendid photograph, and thank you at the start. I was impressed. Thank you. I live in Japan.
Thanks for visiting!
I would agree with your thistle ID--I spent a lot of time also reading about them--both the bull and field thistle. I have both, although much more plentiful bull thistles. My field thistle is taller, and the stems between leaves is smooth, no webbed spines. It also has that more rounded bud that you have pictured. I am still laboring over the Ambush bug in question. Here's what I found: http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?shapeID=1015&curGroupID=4&lgfromWhere=&curPageNum=3
Also, added some refernces in my blog, if you go back to the post. Let me know if this info is different from what you're finding.
Thanks for the thistle confirmation, Nina. It seems that this is our most plentiful thistle. Often "horse" or "bull" in a name means a large or coarse plant, and this is our biggest, thorniest thistle, so no wonder people call it "bull."
Of course, that speculation may be bull....
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