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Cirsium eriophorum

Common name:	Wooly Thistle	Family:	Compositae
Author:	(L.)Scop.	Botanical references:	17, 200
Synonyms:	Cnicus eriophorus ((L.)Roth.), Carduus eriophorus (L.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Central Europe, from Britain, France and Holland to the Balkans and Upper Volga
Habitat:	Grassland, open scrub and roadsides on calcareous soils[12, 17].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	C. eriophorus[E]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Sipene Di Pourcia [E], Wollige Distel [D], Woolly Thistle [MS], Woolly-headed Thistle [H],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	eriophorum = wooly
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Asterales. Renamed to Asteraceae -- Aster family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Belgium

Physical Characteristics

Biennial growing to 1.5m. It is hardy to zone 6. It is in flower from July to September, and the seeds ripen from August to October. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees, flies, Lepidoptera (Moths & Butterflies) and beetles. The plant is self-fertile. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Meadow, Woodland, Cultivated Beds, Dappled Shade, Shady Edge.

Edible Uses

Flowers Leaves Stem.

Young leaves - raw[4, 183].
Young stems - raw or cooked. An asparagus or rhubarb substitute[4, 12, 183]. The stems are peeled and soaked in water to remove the bitterness, they are then said to be excellent eating[4, 183].
Flower buds - cooked. A globe artichoke substitute[2, 177, 183] but much smaller and even more fiddly.

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

Oil Tinder.

The seed fluff is used as a tinder[106].
The seed of all species of thistles yields a good oil by expression[4]. No details of potential yields etc are given[K].

Cultivation details

An easily grown plant, succeeding in any ordinary garden soil in a sunny position[200].

Propagation

Seed - sow early spring or autumn in situ. Germination usually takes place within 2 - 8 weeks at 20° c.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

Details of Medicinal Uses, Habitats, etc. in M. Grieve A Modern Herbal (1931) [4]
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Carduus eriophorus (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database

References for Cirsium eriophorus (a possible synonym).

[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.

[12] Loewenfeld. C. and Back. P. Britain's Wild Larder. David and Charles ISBN 0-7153-7971-2
A handy pocket guide.

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[106] Coon. N. The Dictionary of Useful Plants. Rodale Press 1975 ISBN 0-87857-090-x
Interesting reading but short on detail.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Cirsium+eriophorum
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