Photographs: Co. Clare and C0. Limerick

Meadow Thistle Cirsium dissectum Feochadán móna Family: Asteraceae Flowering July-August. Perennial. Native. Solitary deep-purple flowers surrounded by erect, cottony bracts, the outer bracts spine-tipped. Flower-stems are unbranched, unwinged and covered with cottony hairs. Leaves are mostly basal, green above, white-cottony below and usually scarcely-lobed with weak marginal prickles. Grows in damp, poorly drained ground on neutral to less-acidic fens and peaty soils. Most frequent in west, north-west and central Ireland. Occasionally hybridises with other Cirsium species

Meadow Thistle, Cirsium dissectum, Feochadán móna