Family: thistles (Asteraceae)
Flowering time: July–September
Size: 50–150 cm
Habitat: pastures, clearings and forest edges
Strong, densely bristly-stemmed woolly-headed thistle stems (Cirsium eriophorum) are leafed with sessile, pinnately divided leaves. The dark green upper side of the sturdy leaves is bristly, while the lower side of the leaves is downy-haired and therefore gray. The leaf tips end in a strong and sharp spiny tip of yellowish color. At the top of the stem of the woolly-headed thistle, a few very large heads develop, with a diameter of 4 to 7 cm. The light gray, globe-shaped heads with spiny involucral leaves are densely cobwebby-haired, and the involucral leaves are scarlet. The woolly-headed thistle prefers sunny locations on moderately fertile soils on carbonate substrates.
It is widespread in the northwestern, western and southwestern Slovenia, as well as in the southern and southeastern Slovenia.
