The Canadian Thistle 
A Plant With a Friendly Name: But not so Canadian

 

This thistle is a perennial we call our own but it is in fact a native species to Europe and northern Asia, but as we could have guessed it has been widely introduced elsewhere. Its standard European name is creeping thistle, but it has many other names throughout its habitats: lettuce form hell thistle, cursed thistle, prickly thistle, and stinger-needles. The thistle is believed to have been brought to Canada with the early settlers who imported to America.

Though invasive this plant is really beneficial to pollinators that need nectar, so it can’t be too bad of an invasive species right?

Well it does have both Economic and Ecological impacts.

Economically the plants spread easily and can crowd out pasture grasses used for selling, reducing the overall yield and productivity.

Ecologically the plants spread fast, and they get dense which means they can pretty easily outcompete native plants, and diminish diversity.

To get rid of thee thistle is hard work because it spreads by root which means to effectively get rid of a patch of thistle you’d have to clear the ground of any root fragments. Pulling the thistle out of the ground can weaken the roots not a permanent solution, only chemically killing them is effective.