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Cirsium vulgare (Spear Thistle) is a species of the genus Cirsium, native throughout most of Europe, western Asia, and northwestern Africa. It is also naturalised in North America and Australia and is as an invasive weed in some areas. It is a tall biennial or short-lived monocarpic thistle, forming a rosette of leaves and a taproot up to 70 cm long in the first year, and a flowering stem 1–1.5 m tall in the second (rarely third or fourth) year.
Lake Kerkini, Greece, Europe

Nikon D200, Nikkor 80-400 mm, 1/350 sec at f/ 5.6, ISO 200
© Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos Photography. All Rights Reserved.

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