Konstantynów, near Łódź

Native throughout Europe and western Asia, northern Africa and widely introduced elsewhere; possible weed! Bees feeding plant. Edible plant - roots cooked; young flower stems cooked and used as a vegetable; seeds occasionally eaten roasted. Herbal plant - roots used as a poultice and a decoction of the plant used as a poultice on sore jaws; a decoction of the whole plant used both internally and externally to treat bleeding piles. Useful plant - fibre obtained from the inner bark is used in making paper; seeds of all species of thistles yields a good oil.