Carduus nutans

Carduus nutans is a biennial plant in the daisy and sunflower family Asteraceae with the common names musk thistle, nodding thistle, and nodding plumeless thistle. It is native to regions of Europe, Central Asia, and North Africa, where it is a scattered pasture plant. The musk thistle has been declared as invasive in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Description

It is a thistle. An erect herb which keeps growing from year to year. It grows 2 m high. The leaves are grey-green. They have deep lobes and are spiny. The leaves continue down the stems as wings. The flowers are large and red or purple and drooping. They are 5-6.5 cm across. The flowers are at the ends of branches.

Edible Uses

The pith from the stem can be boiled and eaten like asparagus; it has a pleasant, reportedly delicious taste. The dried flowers are used as a curdling agent for plant milks and similar preparations. An oil can be expressed from the seed, as with all thistle species. Only the leaves, upper stems, and flower receptacles are edible, and all require extensive preparation to remove spines and fibrous tissue. The edible portions have a mild, artichoke-like flavour with moderate bitterness, but yield is extremely low relative to the effort involved. The inner pith of stems, while edible, offers little in the way of calories. After spiny margins are removed, leaves provide very little substance. Flowers have a fibrous, gum-like texture that is unpleasant to chew. Fresh stems taste mildly bitter and vaguely artichoke-like, but tough fibres — particularly in lower stems — make chewing difficult. Upper stems have softer fibres and are the most viable part. Preparation involves shaving or burning off the spiny wings, splitting the stem lengthwise, and scooping out the pith. Leaves need their spiny margins fully removed or scorched off; boiling alone is insufficient unless leaves are very young. Flowers remain fibrous regardless of cooking method. Simmering all parts together produces a mildly bitter, vegetable-like broth with modest carbohydrate content. As a wild edible, nodding thistle is best treated as a desperation food. Basal rosettes form in the first year and persist through winter. Flowering runs from May to September, peaking in mid-summer. Second-year plants die after seed set. Leaves are most tender early in the season; stems become progressively more fibrous with age. Flower receptacles are accessible in mid-summer but of minimal practical use.

Traditional Uses

The pith of the stem is eaten after peeling and boiling. The dried flowers can be used to curdle milk.

This uses section is brief — help expand it

Medicinal Uses

The flowers are febrifuge and used to purify the blood. The seeds contain a fixed oil rich in linoleic acid, which has shown benefit in the prevention of atherosclerosis.

Known Hazards

Spines pose a mechanical hazard and must be completely removed before consuming any part of the plant. Fibres can cause throat irritation if insufficiently prepared. Roots lack documentation for edibility and should not be consumed. The plant is commonly targeted with herbicides, so avoid harvesting from roadsides or agricultural areas.

Distribution

It is a temperate plant. It grows easily on sandy sea shores. It needs an open sunny position. It is drought and frost resistant. In western China it grows in croplands and grasslands between 500-2,300 m above sea level. Tasmania Herbarium.

Where It Grows

Africa, Asia, Australia, Britain*, Canada, Central Asia, China, Europe, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mediterranean, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, North Africa, North America, Russia, Siberia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Tasmania, Turkey, Türkiye, USA,

Cultivation

Succeeds in a sunny position in ordinary garden soil. The flowers, and indeed the whole plant, give off a pleasing musk-like perfume. Growing Conditions: Nodding thistle thrives in disturbed locations—roadsides, pastures, overgrazed rangeland, gravel pits, construction sites, field edges, and degraded prairie. It prefers full sun and well-drained soils but tolerates clay and poor fertility. It is hardy and drought-resistant, flourishing in temperate climates and adapted to USDA Hardiness Zones 3–9. Habitat & Range: Native to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa, Carduus nutans is now naturalized across much of North America. It is abundant in the Southwest, Great Plains, Mountain West, and northern states. Its spread was rapid after its early 19th-century introduction. Today it is widespread in disturbed landscapes, where it forms dense stands. Size & Landscape Performance: Plants range from 30 cm in nutrient-poor soils to over 170 cm in fertile, moist locations. The basal rosettes can span more than 60 cm across. In the landscape, nodding thistle forms dense, spiny monocultures capable of outcompeting grasses and forbs. Cultivation (Horticulture): Cultivation is strongly discouraged due to the plant’s invasive nature. It germinates readily from seed, grows rapidly in its second year, and produces enormous quantities of wind-dispersed seeds. While historically grown in some regions as an ornamental curiosity, it is universally regarded today as a noxious weed. Pests & Problems: Biological control insects—including the seedhead weevils Rhinocyllus conicus and Trichosirocalus horridus—have been introduced to manage its populations. Plants are otherwise robust and resistant to most pests and diseases. In foraging contexts, insect damage is minimal. Cultivar / Selection Notes: There are no cultivars. All material in the Southwest and elsewhere is wild-type and often part of invasive populations. Identification & Habit: Nodding thistle is a spiny, upright biennial typically standing 30–170 cm tall. During its first year it forms a basal rosette; in the second year it produces tall, winged stems clad in decurrent, deeply pinnatifid leaves edged with stiff, painful spines. The stems bear continuous spiny wings—an important diagnostic feature differentiating Carduus from Cirsium. Flowerheads are large (3–6 cm across), globose, ragged at the margins, and characteristically drooping. The phyllaries taper to sharp spines, and the receptacle beneath the flowers is densely bristly rather than honeycomb-pitted. The flowers lack rays entirely, consisting only of reddish-purple discoid florets. Mature fruits are golden-brown cypselae with hair-like pappus bristles that carry minute barbs. Colony formation is common in disturbed or overgrazed ground.

Propagation

Sow seed in spring in situ.

Other Uses

The down of the plant can be used to make paper. The seed of all thistle species yields a good oil by expression; this species contains 41–44% oil. The plant is highly attractive to bees, hoverflies, and butterflies, and serves as a foodplant for caterpillars of many lepidoptera species. Functions as a dynamic accumulator. Despite its status as a noxious weed, mass flowering can temporarily benefit pollinators. Birds and small mammals may feed on seeds opportunistically.

Notes

There are about 90 Carduus species.

Also Known As

Buck thistle, Cardo, Deve dikeni, Esek dikeni, Gulibadaward, Kangal, Kangal dikeni, Kimasti bodak, Sekertikani, Spine de criste

References (25)

• Ambasta S.P. (Ed.), 2000, The Useful Plants of India. CSIR India. p 105
• Bircher, A. G. & Bircher, W. H., 2000, Encyclopedia of Fruit Trees and Edible Flowering Plants in Egypt and the Subtropics. AUC Press. p 83
• Biscotti, N. et al, 2018, The traditional food use of wild vegetables in Apulia (Italy) in the light of Italian ethnobotanical literature. Italian Botanist 5:1-24
• Bodkin, F., 1991, Encyclopedia Botanica. Cornstalk publishing, p 214
• Cakir, E. A., 2017, Traditional knowledge of wild edible plants of Iğdır Province (East Anatolia, Turkey). Acta Soc Bot Pol. 2017;86(4):3568.

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