Weed with purple flower

[MarcP2]

Does this weed look familiar to anyone? S.E. Michigan. The leaves don't have many thistles so it's not matching up with anything I can find, like field thistle. I also thought of wild lettuce but I think that flower is yellow. The photo was taken some time last summer or fall.

[digitS']

Marc,

I thought this might be fairly easy if I looked at Centaurea.

Nothing has quite matched. I don't think it is around here.

Steve

[MarcP2]

Marc,

I thought this might be fairly easy if I looked at Centaurea.

Nothing has quite matched. I don't think it is around here.

Steve

I thought it would be easy, too, that's why I waited so long to try and identify it. Thanks for trying, Steve Centaurea sure was a good guess. I'm finding all sorts of other things in that search even if I don't find this particular plant.

[Bobberman]

I think its a purple dandeline!









purple dandyline - Bing Images


http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=pur ... edIndex=69

Click on right of picture dandlines
Sent from Windows Mail

[JONA878]

How about Cirsium Dissectum ...the Meadow thistle. The prickles are much fewer and those that are there are soft.

[MarcP2]

How about Cirsium Dissectum ...the Meadow thistle. The prickles are much fewer and those that are there are soft.

Certainly looks close. I'm sure now that it's some kind of Cirsium.

[Susan W]

I would explore the thistles, and in a quick check looks like not all in the same genus. Another avenue is to check on the Stokesia genus. This is our Stokes aster, native plant and widely culitvated in perennial gardens.

[MarcP2]

I would explore the thistles, and in a quick check looks like not all in the same genus. Another avenue is to check on the Stokesia genus. This is our Stokes aster, native plant and widely culitvated in perennial gardens.

Thanks, Susan. From what I can see, Stokesia is found very far south and I live very far north. I'm sure this is a very common plant for this area but, so far, I don't know exactly which one.

[imafan26]

How about a Canada Thistle
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jennifers ... 762920883/

[MarcP2]

How about a Canada Thistle
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jennifers ... 762920883/

Maybe I was too hasty in dismissing Canada thistle. But I thought that thistle seemed more prickly than mine and the flower buds on the Canada thistle seem more round, whereas mine look elongated. Looking more closely at photos of Canada thistle, they don't look as prickly as I thought, so you might be right.

[watermelonpunch]

Did you settle on what that is?

I have a few different types of plants I've seen that look like that around here.
Never sure what's what.

I hate finding the canadian thistle in the lawn... because I like wearing flimsy sandals.
I got so mad at the stuff I took the spade and made holes in the lawn to get rid of it the year before last.

However, my husband convinced me not to chop down the plants that were tall at the border of the yard, and looked like the nasty things in the lawn... even though I was worried about it spreading back into where I'd step on it.

And I wasn't disappointed because as it turned out, goldfinches showed up in droves when those purple flowers bloomed.

However, there are 3 different types of purple flowers I've seen in the area, and each one has a different level of prickly bits.. the range. The worst you would NOT want to touch at all without very heavy gloves on. That's the stuff I believe is canadian thistle that turns up in the lawn. And the other end is the one that merely looks a little bit prickly but is very soft if you actually touch what you could see of prickliness. And then one in between... in that you don't want to grab it, but you won't need immediate first aid if you do either.