Between July and September, it puts on a rogue show of thistle-shaped purple flowers that bob over black-mottled bracts — hence the name. It's considered invasive and noxious across most U.S ...

The basal foliage of the Italian eryngo is evergreen in milder climates and looks rather like leathery thistle leaves ... each sitting on long blue bracts up to 4in across. Good for: Drought ...

Flowers are unisexual, on separate plants; flowers purple (occasionally white) in heads 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter; involucral bracts spineless. Fruits are about 1/8 inch long, somewhat flattened, ...

unlike the leaves and unlike bull thistle and European marsh thistle pink, white, or lavender-colored flowers with flat bracts and pointed tips that bloom in June seed are fluffy, white tufts of hair ...