Saturday, 21 July 2007

Red Star Thistle - Centaurea calcitrapa

The red star thistle is marked as vulnerable by the IUCN and it is apparantly confined to Sussex coastal areas in the UK although the NBN gateway shows a much wider distribution. The flower head has long yellowish spines and pink thistle like flowers. It can be found growing in distrubed habitats, particularly grassland. This plant was growing along a path way subject to a moderate level of disturbance

2 comments:

RBChallenger said...

I love this photo, its amazing how something can seem so harsh and yet so beautiful at the same time!!!

Victoria Hume said...

Thanks for the comment, the plant is amazing, really odd looking with those long straw coloured thistles. I was really excited when i bumped into it.