Japanese name: ツクシアザミ（筑紫薊） Scientific name:Cirsium suffultum
[Overview]
A perennial 50–200 cm tall, found at forest edges and in grasslands in the mountains.
The stem is erect or ascending.
There are basal leaves and stem leaves; the basal leaves have withered by flowering time.
The stem leaves are alternate; those on the lower part are narrowly ovate to narrowly elliptic-ovate, 20–40 cm long, and pinnately divided into 4–8 pairs of lobes.
The leaf margins have sharp spines.
A single flower head is borne at the stem tip, or several are arranged in a raceme.
The flower heads are reddish purple and face sideways to downward.
The involucre is bell-shaped to bowl-shaped, 0.6–1.3 cm wide, with involucral bracts in 6–7 rows that are slightly recurved or ascending.
The tips of the outer involucral bracts extend long in a tail-like manner.
The involucre is not sticky.
The fruit is an achene with white pappus hairs.
[Notes]
This is the most commonly seen thistle in Kyushu.
