A July morning, just after sunrise, in a fallow field.
The first sun rays lighten up the stalks of all plants here. Most of them are Creeping Thistle (Cirsium arvense) with its white silky heads, and there is also Common Andryala (Andryala integrifolia) with its much smaller yellow flowerheads, still closed at this time of the day.
Some weeks ago it was like this, the Thistles still in full bloom with lilac flowers, and here and there an Andryala. Creeping Thistle is a perennial plant and it can appear in large amounts when circumstances are what they should be. A good soil, not much competition from other plants, laboured but not too recently so last year's plants can develop and spread.
At the lower part of the stem prickly leaves make you don(t want to touch the Creeping Thistle, but upwards the oval flowerheads sit on stems without any thorns. Insects love them. Most common thistle species belong to two genera, Carduus and Cirsium. Species from the first genus have simple pappus hairs without ramifications on their fruits, the pappus hairs of the last genus are like a feather, with ramifications. Well, it is a detail and not easy to see.
Now flowering is over, and the fruits are nearly ripe and ready to fly away.