Bull Thistle
Cirsium vulgare
Found in meadows, pastures, and disturbed areas. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 82%
- Height
- 1 to 6.6 feet tall
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Usually moist
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At a glance
- Life cycle
- Biennial
- Leaves
- Deciduous
- Bloom
- June to November
Not yet recorded · Spread
Recorded in 2 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Open, grassy or flowery ground that is not wet, such as mountain meadows; wet meadows are separate.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Who uses this plant?
30CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Cirsium
- Achyra rantalisGarden Webworm Moth
- Anagrapha falciferaCelery Looper Moth
- Calephelis virginiensisNorthern Metalmark
- Cenopis reticulatanaReticulated Fruitworm Moth
- Choristoneura rosaceanaOblique-Banded Leafroller Moth, Rosaceous Leaf Roller
- Dicymolomia julianalisJulia's Dicymolomia
- Epiblema scudderianaScudder's Epiblema, Goldenrod Gall Moth
- Euxoa auxiliarisArmy Cut-Worm, Army Cutworm
- Homoeosoma electellaSunflower Moth
- Lipocosmodes fuliginosalisSooty Lipocosmodes
Show all 30
- Megalographa bilobaBilobed Looper Moth
- Orthodes cynicaCynical Quaker, Cynical Groundcat
- Papaipema cataphractaBurdock Border, Potato-Stalk Borer
- Papilio glaucusEastern Tiger Swallowtail
- Paralobesia viteanaAmerican Vine Moth, Grape Berry Moth
- Phyciodes tharosPearl Crescent, Crescentspot
- Phycitodes reliquellaWhite-Edged Phycitodes
- Platyptilia carduidactylusArtichoke Plume Moth
- Pyrausta subsequalisMottled Pyrausta
- Synchlora frondariaSouthern Emerald
- Syntomeida ipomoeaeYellow-Banded Wasp Moth
- Udea rubigalisCelery Leaftier
- Vanessa carduiPainted Lady, Cosmopolite
- Vanessa virginiensisAmerican Lady, American Painted Lady
- Walshia miscecolorellaSweetclover Root Borer Moth
- Xestia dolosaGreater Black-Letter Dart, Greater Spotted Cutworm
- Hedya cyanana
- Homoeosoma pedionnastes
- Omiodes simialis
- Pseudotelphusa carduiella
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
12Specialist beesPollen specialists
Pollen specialists · Cirsium
- Andrena nubecula
- Andrena placata
- Andrena runcinatae
- Andrena simplex
- Diadasia enavata
- Megachile pugnata
- Melissodes confusus
- Melissodes desponsus
- Melissodes illatus
- Melissodes rivalis
Show all 12
- Osmia chalybea
- Osmia texana
6BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Cirsium
- Callipepla californicaCalifornia Quail
- Columbina passerinaCommon Ground Dove
- Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
- Perdix perdixGray Partridge
- Spizella pusillaField Sparrow
- Zenaida macrouraMourning Dove
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
Plant details
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 3a–8b
- Soil pH
- Acidic to alkaline
- Flower color
- Pink or purple
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “Late June to November” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Pink or purple” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Hardiness · “Zones 3a–8b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “1 to 6.6 feet (0.3 to 2 m) tall” · Fire Effects Information System: Cirsium vulgare (ranked first; Minnesota Wildflowers differs) · Source botanical description; original units and scope retained
- Leaves · “Deciduous” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Biennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Moist” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil pH · “Acidic to alkaline” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Also known as
Carduus lanceolatus; plumeless thistle; plumeless-thistle
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | GNR |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- USDA PLANTS
- FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Florida (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications