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Common sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus)

Common sowthistle Common Names: Pualele, sow thistle, annual sowthistle

Description: Common seed crop contaminant.

Habit: Winter or spring annual that can reach a height of 4 feet tall.

Leaves: Alternate, up to 8 inches long and 2.25 inches wide, becoming smaller up the stem, variable; elliptic, oblanceolate or lanceolate, almost entire to irregular, soft, glabrous, dull green in color, clasping base

Stems: Central stem is hairless, dull green in color but sometimes tinted reddish purple. Little branching except near apex.

Flowers: Upper stems terminate in small clusters of flowerheads. 3/4 inch across when open, yellow in color, green involucre with 27-35 lance-shaped bracts, 10-13 mm long, hairy when young.

Fruit and seeds: Achenes are brown in color, 2.5-3.75 mm, flattened, ribbed, oblanceolate, tuberculate-rugose, with tufts of fluffy white hairs.

Habitat: Native to Europe. Can be found in open disturbed areas, fields, gardens, sand dunes, waste places, roadsides, near waterways, burned areas, construction sites, and rail yards.

Reproduction: By seed.

Monitoring and rapid response: Young plants can easily be hand pulled; older plants may be more firmly rooted making it difficult to remove without breaking off the stems and resprouting. Can be effectively controlled using any of several readily available general use herbicides such as glyphosate but resistance is possible with ALS-inhibiting herbicides.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from CABI: Invasive Species Compendium and Illinois Wildflowers.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).


Common Name:

Common sowthistle

Scientific Name:

Sonchus oleraceus

Family:

Asteraceae
(Aster)

Duration:

Annual

Habit:

Herbs

USDA Symbol:

SOOL