Field thistle is a native biennial to short-lived perennial in the daisy (Asteraceae) family and is native to eastern and central North America including NC. The plant is found in moist to dry soils of prairies, pastures, old fields, roadsides, savannas and forest edges. It starts out as a basal rosette of leaves. The field thistle then grows 3-10 feet tall with a few to many branches during the second year and has hairy stems and sharp spines on the leaves. The plant blooms in its second year and then usually dies, although it may take more than 1 year to bloom. This plant tolerates a wide variety of soils if they are well-drained and is drought-tolerant due to a deep tap root. It will flower best in full sun but tolerates some shade.It spreads by seeds. Large lobed leaves tend to get smaller as they go up the stem. The large showy pink to purple heads of flowers appear at the end of stems from June to October. The heads are 1 to 2 inches across and contain many tubular disc flowers. Many insects from beetles to bees to butterflies, are attracted to this plant due to the abundant nectar. Sometimes people mistake this plant for the aggressive European bull thistle and try to eradicate but bull thistle blooms in the spring rather than later summer, Native bees nest in the dead, hollow stems, so gardeners are encouraged to cut back dead stems to 12 to 24 inches and allow them to remain standing until they disintegrate on their own. Read more about best practices for stem-nesting bees in this NC Extension publication . Use this plant in a pollinator/native garden or naturalized areas. Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems: No significant problems
Curated pairwise relationships between this plant and others in the library — who feeds
whom, who competes, who confuses the pests. Green reads as a good pairing, red as one to avoid.
No curated interactions recorded for this species yet.
Also noted by NC State
Related species the NC State Plant Toolbox flags for this plant — look-alikes to tell
apart, and plants that play a similar role in a planting. Ones we carry in the library are linked.
Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day) | Partial Shade (Direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)
Soil texture
Clay; Loam (Silt); Sand
Soil drainage
Good Drainage | Moist | Occasionally Dry
NC region
Coastal; Mountains; Piedmont
Mature size
Height: 3 ft. 0 in. - 10 ft. 0 in. | Width: 1 ft. 0 in. - 2 ft. 0 in.
Growth rate
Medium
Maintenance
Low
Canopy layer
4 - Herbaceous (3-15 ft)
Form & Appearance
Habit / form
Erect
Texture
Coarse
Leaf color
Green; White
Leaf type
Simple
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf shape
Pinnatifid
Leaf margin
Lobed
Leaf feel
Prickly
Leaf size
> 6 inches long, 1-3 inches wide
Hairs present
Yes
Leaf detail
The pinnately lobed green leaves are up to 9 inches long and 3 inches across. The undersides are whitish with hairs. The lobes are narrow and sometimes divided further into smaller lobes. The leaves get smaller as they ascend the plant. There are often spines along the margins of leaves
Flower color
Pink; Purple/Lavender; White
Flower value
Showy
Flower form
Head
Flower shape
Tubular
Flower size
1-3 inches
Flower detail
The pink to purple (rarely white) disc flowers are in a flowerhead up to 2 inches across. There can be 50-100 disc flowers in each. The bracts are flat, green with a white stripe, resemble fish scales and have a short needle-like spine at the tip that sticks out. Many flowerheads can appear at the same time. individual disc flowers are tubular. The flowers occur in late summer to early fall.
Bloom time
Fall; Summer
Fruit color
Brown/Copper
Fruit type
Achene
Fruit size
< 1 inch long, < 1 inch wide
Fruit detail
The achenes have tufts of hairs to help wind dispersal of seeds
Stem color
Green
Stem detail
Hairy green stems without spines
Wildlife & Ecology
Native status
Native
Origin
Central and eastern North America
Distribution
AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, GA, IA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, VA, VT, WI, WV Canada: MB, NB, NS, ON, QC
Wildlife value
Many pollinators will visit these flowers. Songbirds, especially finches, will eat the seeds. Dead stems are used by stem-nesting bees.