''Sonchus arvensis'', the field milk thistle, field sowthistle, perennial sow-thistle, corn sow thistle, dindle, gutweed, swine thistle, or tree sow thistle, is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

. ''S. arvensis'' often occurs in annual crop fields and may cause substantial yield losses.

Description

The plant grows up to in height, with leaves long and wide. It produces conspicuous yellow flowerheads about wide, which are visited by various types of insects—especially

hoverflies Hover flies, also called flower flies or syrphid flies, make up the insect family Syrphidae. As their common name suggests, they are often seen hovering or nectaring at flowers; the adults of many species feed mainly on nectar and pollen, while ...

of the genus ''

Eristalis ''Eristalis'' is a large genus of hoverflies, family Syrphidae, in the order Diptera. Several species are known as drone flies (or droneflies) because they bear a resemblance to honeybee drones. Drone flies and their relatives are fairly commo ...

''.

Distribution

''Sonchus arvensis'' is native to Eurasia, where it is widespread across most of the continent. It has also become naturalized in many other regions, and is considered an invasive noxious weed in some places, such as

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

(including

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It grows in areas such as

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...

roadside Roadside may refer to: *Road verge, a strip of greenery between a road and a sidewalk *Shoulder (road), an emergency stopping lane by the verge of a road *Roadside, Caithness, Scotland, a village * ''Roadside'' (film), a 2013 American horror film ...

s, bushlands and the shorelines of lakes, riversCorn sowthistle (Sonchus arvensis)
by NSW WeedWise and sea coast.

Uses

The young leaves, when less than a few inches long and not bitter in taste, can be mixed with other greens to make salad. They can also be boiled in a small quantity of water, changed once. The plant can contain toxic

nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion A polyatomic ion, also known as a molecular ion, is a covalent bonded set of two or more atoms, or of a metal complex, that can be considered to behave as a single unit and that has a net charge that is not zer ...

Gallery

Sonchus arvensis20090912 303.jpg, Leaves Sonchus arvensis20090912 305.jpg, Flowerheads Illustration Sonchus arvensis0.jpg, Illustration

References

External links

Tropicos.org: photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q239291 arvensis Flora of Europe Medicinal plants of Europe Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus