Musk Thistle

Carduus nutans, the musk thistle, nodding thistle or nodding plumeless thistle, is a biennial plant in the daisy and sunflower family. It is native to Europe, western Siberia, Asia and North Africa, where it is a scattered pasture plant, and is declared invasive in North America, Australia, New Zealand and southern Africa. Mature plants have multi-branched, cottony stems and dark green, prickly, coarsely lobed leaves tipped with sharp spines. The showy flowers, deep rose to violet and rarely white, sit in large globose heads that droop to the angle that gives the plant its name. One plant can produce around 20,000 seeds, mostly wind dispersed, which can survive in the soil for up to 20 years. Herbal decoctions have historically included it. The page says Turkish folk medicine has used parts of the flowering branches for prostate disease, and that it has been used for liver disease, malaria, constipation and kidney stones.