Sow thistle (less usually hare thistle or even hare lettuce) is the most common title for the total of related annual herbs in the Genus Sonchus, a ancient Greek title for these plants. Tons come characterized by easy, somewhat irregularly lobed leaves that clasp the stem &, at least at first, form the radical rosette. A stem contains a whitish sap. Flower heads are yellow & home in size from either half to a single inch from side to side; a florets are all of ray nature and severity. Sow thistles come most common wayside plants, & piece indigene to Eurasia and tropical Africa, they are incurred just about worldwide inside temperate regions. Despite their most common title, sow thistles are non admittedly thistles, although are classified in a equivalent personal, the Asteraceae.

Matured sow thistle stems may range from either Thirty cm to 2 m (1 to 6 feet) tall, depending upon coinage & growing conditions. Colourations range from either green to purple within older plants. Sow thistles exude the whitish latex when any part of a plant is cut or even damaged, & these are from either this fact that a plants found the most common title, "sow thistle", when it were fed to lactating sows in the belief that milk production would increase. Around a bit of regions sow thistles come referred to as "milk thistles", although the avowedly milk thistle is placed in the different genus.

A plant has been utilize as a stockprovender & particularly as a feed for rabbits, hence the more most common list of "hare thistle" or even "hare lettuce". A plant is as well eatable by humans as a leaf vegetable; old leaves and stalks may be bitter, but immature leaves have a flavour similar to lettuce. Running per title puha these are often dine in New Zealand as a vegetable, particularly by the native Māori. Whilst cooked it tastes similar to chard.

Within several areas sow thistles come considered the noxious weed, as it develop quickly inside the wide range of conditions, & their wind-bourne seeds allow them to spread speedily. Sonchus arvensis, a perennial sow thistle, is considered a virtually all economically prejudicious, when it potty crowd commercial crops, is a heavily consumer of nitrogen in soils, & potty regrow and sprout extra plants from either its creeping roots.

All the same despite their status as a weed, sow thistles come well uprooted by h&, and their easy stems present little trend lines to slashing or even mowing. Virtually all livestock will readily devour sow thistle in preference to grass.

Sow thistles come the most common hikers plant for aphids. Gardeners will assume this a gain or even a curse; aphids will spread from either sow thistle to more plants, however as an alternative the sow thistle may encourage the incubation of beneficial predators like hoverflies. Therein regard sow thistles produce fantabulous sacrificial plants.