This field full of Welted Thistles lies near the village of Gørslev on the island of Sjaelland in Denmark. There are many plants of which the name ends with thistle, but many of them don’t belong to the same genus, or even to the same family. Real thistles are prickly plants with flowers surrounded by pointed leaves, usually in shades of red to purple. The fruits are furnished at the top with fluff, by which the seeds spread on the wind. Thistles are biennial plants. In the first year there is only a root- and leaf-rosette, the second year the flowers and seeds develop.