Crupina vulgaris
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| Crupina vulgaris | ||||||||||||||
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| Crupina vulgaris Cass. |
Crupina vulgaris is a species of plant in the daisy family known by the common names common crupina and bearded creeper. This spindly thistle-like annual is perhaps best known as a noxious weed of fields and rangelands. It is native to southern Europe but it has been introduced to other areas, where it has taken hold and spread. The plant starts as a basal rosette of deeply lobed pale green leaves with a pink midrib. It bolts a ridged stem which may approach a meter in height, but is generally just over half a meter tall at maximum. The stems have many sharply toothed leaves lined with tiny spines. Atop each branch of the stem is a flower head containing a few bright pink or magenta disc florets. Usually all but one of the florets are sterile, with the fertile one producing a fruit. The fruit is a hard achene 3 to 6 millimeters long. It is coated in thin hairs and has a dark-colored pappus a few millimeters long.
Common crupina is a weed in many areas, including Russia and western North America, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. It is also known from southern Australia, but is not currently problematic there. Grazing animals find the spiny foliage of this plant distasteful, and large stands of the plant can ruin grazing land. This is a hardy plant that thrives in a variety of climatic conditions. It forms monotypic stands of spiny foliage. The achenes are tough and can disperse easily; however, seed is the plant's only method of reproduction, so control is relatively easy if an infestation of this weed is caught early and seed production is prevented.
