Creeping Thistle

A common perennial weed of lesser maintained amenity turf surfaces. Its scientific name is Cirsium arvense. Its leaves are wavy, not hairy, often twisting in appearance and have prominent spikes present on the leaf tip, with weakly developed spikes on the margins; it spreads aggressively by rhizomes. It flowers from June to September, with the flower heads typically having a diameter of about 12mm, and being a light purple in colour. The flower heads are in clusters on a spineless stalk.