Sonchus asper

Habitus and location

The Prickly Sow- thistle ( Sonchus asper ) is a plant from the sunflower family ( Asteraceae).

Features

Prickly Sow thistles are annuals, rarely winter annual herbaceous plant with a hollow, fleshy, usually ästigen stems that reach heights of growth between 30 and 80 cm. The leaves are rough ( more rigid than that of the carbon - sow-thistle ), dark green and shiny above. Its edge is stinging- thorny ciliate or toothed. The leaf shape can vary from deeply pinnatifid to nearly perfect with spatelförmigem outline. On stängelumgreifenden leaf base are rounded, significantly expressed in the stalk ears.

The cups are arranged in paniculate inflorescences total. There are only ray florets present. The fruits are compressed and winged on both sides with three longitudinal ribs, smooth between the ribs. They have a pappus.

The flowering period extends from June to October.

Occurrence

The species colonized roadsides, Waste places, gardens, fields and shores, preferably on fresh to moist sites. In Germany, it is classified as " widespread ".

Ecology

The fruits are spread out among others by meadow ants of the genus Tetramorium. On a 140 cm high plant were 220 ​​baskets each with about 250 achenes, so found a total of about 55,000 fruits.