Cirsium vulgare aka Scotch Thistle

Cirsium vulgare, also known as spear thistle, bull thistle, or common thistle, is a species of the Asteraceae genus Cirsium. It is native to most of Europe, Western Asia, and northwestern Africa. This tall biennial or short-lived monocarpic thistle produces a rosette of leaves and a taproot up to 70 cm long in the first year, and a flowering stem 1–1.5 m tall in the second year (rarely third or fourth). The stem is winged and has numerous longitudinal spine-tipped wings along its full length. The leaves are grey-green, deeply lobed, and stoutly spined. The basal leaves can grow up to 15–25 cm long, with smaller leaves on the upper part of the flower stem, and the leaf lobes are spear-shaped. The inflorescence is pink-purple and 2.5–5 cm in diameter, with all the florets of similar form. Cirsium vulgare is an invasive weed in some areas and designated an "injurious weed" under the UK Weeds Act 1959, and a noxious weed in Australia, and in nine US states. However, it does provide a great deal of nectar for pollinators and was ranked in the top 10 for most nectar production in a UK plants survey conducted by the AgriLand project which is supported by the UK Insect Pollinators Initiative. Marsh thistle, Cirsium palustre, was ranked in first place while this thistle was ranked in sixth place. It was also a top producer of nectar sugar in another study in Britain, ranked third with a production per floral unit of (2300 ± 400 μg). Despite its invasive tendencies, bull thistle does attract bees and butterflies to its nectar. The plant is also the national flower of Scotland.