Discover
Identify
Record
Dwarf Thistle - Cirsium acaule
Low stemless or almost stemless plant with a rosette of deep green, spiny leaves. Flowerheads usually solitary, purple 20 to 40 mm borne directly on the leaf rosette.
In flower it is unlikely to be confused; but the leaf rosettes are similar to many other thistles
Flowerheads sessile, or very shortly stalked
Dry grassy habitats, especially grazed pastures, on calcareous soils.
June to September.
Perennial.
Local in England and southern Wales north to Yorkshire.
Mainly found in the east of Leicestershire and parts of Rutland it is approaching the northern limit of its range in VC55. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 62 of the 617 tetrads.
In the current checklist (Jeeves 2011) it is listed as Native; short calcareous grassland; occasional
Leicestershire & Rutland Map
Enter a town or village to see local records
MAP KEY:
Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015
UK Map
Species profile
- Common names
- Stemless Thistle, Dwarf Thistle
- Species group:
- Wildflowers
- Kingdom:
- Plantae
- Order:
- Asterales
- Family:
- Asteraceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 21
- First record:
- 30/06/2011 (Stevens, Ron)
- Last record:
- 19/07/2023 (lemmon, roy)
Total records by month
% of records within its species group
10km squares with records
The latest images and records displayed below include those awaiting verification checks so we cannot guarantee that every identification is correct. Once accepted, the record displays a green tick.
In the Latest Records section, click on the header to sort A-Z, and again to sort Z-A. Use the header boxes to filter the list.