Spotted Golden Thistle Care

Scolymus maculatus is a spiny annual plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Mediterranean region in southern Europe, southwest Asia, and northern Africa, and also the Canary Islands.

It has pinnately incised prickly leaves and prickly wings along the stems, both with a white marginal vein. The yellow flowerheads stand solitary or with a few together at the tip to the stems, and subtended by more than five leaflike bracts. The stems carry uninterrupted spiny wings along their lengths. The wavy leaves are approximately ovate in shape, mostly 9–14 cm long, with prominent white veins which are pinnately divided, alternately set along the stems, and have a dentate margin tipped with spines and a white vein all around their outline.

Invasive in Europe and Australia.