Common prickly weed spotted and confirmed along New York roadside
iNaturalist: o_liv_id
Invasive Species
Prickly sowthistle pops up in vegetable beds and cracks in pavement almost everywhere, and knowing what it looks like keeps you from confusing it with young dandelion or a native thistle that pollinators actually need.
Someone out for a walk on Anderson Hill Road in Harrison, New York spotted a prickly sowthistle plant and logged it on iNaturalist, where other experts confirmed the identification. It's a spiny-leaved, yellow-flowered weed that grows almost everywhere and is easy to mistake for a dandelion or a true thistle. Sightings like this build a public record of where common plants are actually growing, season after season.
Key Findings
Observation was verified as 'research-grade' on iNaturalist, meaning the identification is confirmed by community consensus
Location documented: Anderson Hill Road, Harrison, New York, US
Species identified: prickly sowthistle (Sonchus asper), a widespread annual weed in the daisy family
chevron_right Technical Summary
A citizen scientist confirmed a research-grade sighting of prickly sowthistle, a common weedy plant, growing along a roadside in Harrison, New York. This kind of documented observation helps track where this widespread, fast-spreading plant is showing up.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
prickly sowthistle (Sonchus asper) observed in Anderson Hill Rd, Harrison, NY, US
Research-grade observation of prickly sowthistle in Anderson Hill Rd, Harrison, NY, US.
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
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Sonchus asper, the prickly sow-thistle, rough milk thistle, spiny sowthistle, sharp-fringed sow thistle, or spiny-leaved sow thistle, is a widespread flowering plant in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae.