''Cirsium acaule'' or ''acaulon'' has the English name dwarf thistle or stemless thistle. It is widespread across much of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

.Altervista Flora Italiana, Cardo nano, ''Cirsium acaule''
includes photos and European distribution map It is often found on short, calcerous grasslands.

Description

''Cirsium acaule'' is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

herb. The leaves are a spreading rosette, spiny, 10 to 15 cm long. There is usually only one

flower head A pseudanthium (Greek for "false flower"; ) is an inflorescence that resembles a flower. The word is sometimes used for other structures that are neither a true flower nor a true inflorescence. Examples of pseudanthia include flower heads, compos ...

, although there can sometimes be 2 or 3. Usually it is not stalked from the leaf rosette. The flower head is 3 to 4 cm long, the florets are red/purple. They flower from June to September.

References

acaule Flora of Europe Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Cynareae-stub