Scientific name: Carlina vulgaris L.
Common name: Carline thistle
Description
Habit: Biennial, 15-40 cm high.
Stems: Stiff, erect, slightly white-hairy.
Leaves: Oval to lanceolate, lobed, very prickly.
Flowers: Flower-heads solitary or in groups of 2-4, rather flat, 20-35 mm across; outer involucral bracts similar to the leaves; inner row straw-coloured, linear, entire, shining, spreading in dry weather and erect when moist; florets tubular and purple, interspersed with long scales.
Fruits: A silky achene, pappus of long, feathery branched hairs.
Habitat: Limestone pavement, dry and calcareous grassland, sand dunes.
Distribution: Abundant on the limestone, very rare elsewhere.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No