What species of plant is this?

Question

I saw this weed growing near the sidewalk and I thought it looked like something from another world. Can anyone identify the species?

http://img01.picoodle.com/img/img01/4/4/10/f_flowerm_cb130d4.jpg

Answer 1

Hi Trafficer21,

This looks much like a thistle, Cirsium canovirens, which is a native to Calif... see link below.

However, if you were in another state, it may be another related species.

I hope this helps.

Hiking Tony

Answer 2

You have a white flowered thistle it looks like.

Cirsium spp.

http://ftp.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/pla...

http://zipcodezoo.com/Key/Cirsium_Genus....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirsium

Click on a number to see photo

http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/sub...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelcarr...

Answer 3

I agree with the above- definitely looks like some kind of thistle.