The Plume Thistle is very common all over Britain. It grows during
summer in bogs and in wet places by the roadside.
This tall, thin plant is not nearly so attractive as the Scotch Thistle.
The flowers grow in heads which contain a great many dull purple flowers
crowded together in one bundle. These heads do not grow singly as in the
Scotch Thistle. You will find three or four close together at the end of
the main stem, and there is usually one head of flowers much further out
than the others.
The green covering which protects the lower part of the flowers and
binds them together is not hard and prickly as in the Scotch Thistle.
When you pick this covering to pieces you find that it is filled with
woolly down.
The stem of the Marsh Plume Thistle is stiff and straight, and it has
green wings with very sharp prickles up each side.
The leaves are long and narrow, and they are edged with sharp points.
Each leaf is dark green above, but underneath it is covered with white
down.