Family: daisy family (Asteraceae)
Flowering time: July–September
Size: up to 10 cm
Habitat: dry meadows, pastures and karst meadows
The stem of the stemless thistle (Cirsium acaule) is very short, exceptionally it grows up to 10 cm tall. At its tip, usually one head develops with numerous scarlet tubular flowers. Rarely are there more heads (up to four). The stiff spiny leaves form a basal rosette. The basal lanceolate leaves are pinnately divided. Egg-shaped, trilobed leaf lobes overlap somewhat with one another. The stemless thistle grows on dry calcareous soils in sunny, warmer places.
It is common in southern Slovenia, toward the interior of the country it becomes rarer, and in the northern part of Slovenia it will not be found.
