Smooth Sow-thistle - Sonchus oleraceus
Short to tall greyish plant. Upper leaves clasp the stem with triangular, leaves with pointed basal lobes. Flowerheads pale yellow 20 to 25 mm, borne in lax clusters.
Prickly Sow-thistle
Auricles of stem-leaves pointed. Achenes transversely rugose. Leaves deeply pinnately lobed, but can be very similar to S asper
Photograph of stem and leaves, showing auricles
Bare and waste ground, roadsides. A weed of cultivation.
May to November.
Annual.
Very common throughout Britain except for parts of the Scottish Highlands.
Very common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 530 of the 617 tetrads.
Alan SemperHarby roadside18 April 2014
David NichollsMartinshaw Wood05 July 2012leaf with pointed basal lobes Church Walk Sapcote SP 4894 9320 (taken 11.10.2008).JPG)
Graham CalowSapcote11 October 2008
Alan SemperHarby churchyard28 May 2012
Ken CharityAnstey garden at LE7 7TE29 May 2018
 Church Walk Sapcote SP 4894 9320 (taken 11.10.2008).JPG)
Leicestershire & Rutland Map
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Map key:
Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records
- RED = 2020+
- DARK BLUE = 2015-2019
- LIGHT BLUE = pre 2015
UK Map
Sally CunninghamLeicester, Seymour St26 April 2019
Barbara CooperFishpool Brook, Walton11 June 2015
