Milk thistle, Cardo mariano

Annual or biannual plant of the Asteraceae family. Typical thistle with red to purple flowers and shiny pale green leaves with white veins.
30 to 200 cm tall. The stem is grooved and more or less cottony. With the largest specimens the stem is hollow.

The leaves are oblong to lanceolate. They are either lobate or pinnate, with spiny edges. They are hairless, shiny green, with milk-white veins.

The flower heads are 4 to 12 cm long and wide, of red-purple colour. They flower from June to August.

The bracts are hairless, with triangular, spine-edged appendages, tipped with a stout yellow spine.