Onopordum Gardening Tips

Onopordum is a genus of flowering plants in family Asteraceae, comprising about 40 species. It is native to Europe (Mediterranean region), northern Africa, the Canary Islands, the Caucasus, and southwest and central Asia. Onopordum has a common name called Scotch Thistle.

Onopordum is a biennial plant, with branched, spinose winged stems. It can grow to a height of 0.5-3 m, with silvery foliage. The leaves are dentate with deeply cut leaflets and strongly spiny. The flowers do not appear until the second year and the plants die off after seed maturation. The seed head mature in mid-summer, releasing the seeds.

Onopordum species are also food plant to larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Coleophora onopordiella which feeds exclusively on O. acanthium. Plant Onopordum in full sun, fertile, well-drained and neutral to alkaline soil. The plants propagate only by seed. Pests are slugs and snails.

Onopordum
Author: Electron08 (Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0-unported)

Start your own Organic Garden

Learn how to grow really fresh, tasty organic vegetables even if you live in a small apartment. The vegetables bought in supermarket will never match those that you grow yourself. They will be fresher, healthier and tastier, and compared to store-bought organic vegetables, they will be much, much cheaper. To learn more, Click Here!

Return to the Flowering Garden homepage

All pages of The Flowering Garden are governed by the GNU Free Documentation License and may be printed out for use as long as derivative works observe the same license. No other form of reproduction is permitted without the written permission of The Flowering Garden. All third-party photographs may be reused only according to the licensing terms as specified. This is a Christian-run site. To know our belief, click on Introducing God.

Terms & Condition of Use | Privacy Policy