As its name suggests, the Melancholy thistle was once used to treat 'melancholia' (depression). Today, it can be found in upland hay meadows showing off its single, purple, thistle-like flower head.
Enw gwyddonol
Cirsium heterophyllum
Pryd i'w gweld
July to August
Species information
Ystadegau
Height: 0.5-1.2m
Statws cadwraethol
Protected in Northern Ireland under the Wildlife Order, 1985.
The Melancholy thistle is a plant of upland pastures in the north of the UK. It can be found in high summer in unimproved upland hay meadows, open woodlands, and along streams and roadside verges. It has a distinctive, usually solitary, purple-red thistle-like flower head that initially droops.
Sut i'w hadnabod
The tall Melancholy thistle displays solitary flower heads of red-purple florets (tiny flowers) surrounded by oval, purple-tinged bracts (leaf-like structures). Unlike other thistles, it doesn't have spines and its leaves have a dense white felt on their undersides.
Dosbarthiad
Mainly found in the in Scotland, Northern England and North Wales.
Roeddech chi yn gwybod?
The name of the Melancholy thistle is thought to derive from its historical use as a potion to prevent 'melancholia' - a form of depression.
