How to Grow and Care for Carlina

In some cultures, the stemless carline thistle (Carlina acaulis) is used to predict the weather, as the flowers close when it is about to rain. The flowers last for up to two months and often dry on the plant. Basque people attach the dried flowers to their front doors as a sign of welcome.

Fireweed (Carlina vulgaris) is an important food source for songbirds in the British Isles and its plain brown-yellow flowers are pollinated by a variety of bees and moths. In autumn the flowers dry out but otherwise change little in appearance and remain standing throughout the winter months.

The clustered carline-thistle attracts numerous pollinators—bees, butterflies, and wasps. This wildflower can be found in sunny, rocky habitats and disturbed sites. This thistle is distinguishable by its golden outer bracts that are extremely spiny. These bracts open only during sunny days—when it’s cloudy and rainy, they remain closed.

The Acanthus Eberwurz is a thistle-like, perennial herbaceous plant. Their unbranched stems are up to 10 centimeters high. The green leaves are arranged in a rosette. The approximately to the middle fiederteiligen leaf blades are wavy, unterseits dichtfilzig and prickly serrated. They are about 25 to 76 cm long and 15 to 38 cm wide.

Wooly carline thistle is a thistle-like plant. Carlina in its Latin name Carlina lanata relates to the ancient legend whereby an angel showed Charlemagne a thistle to cure soldiers of the plague. Lanata means woolly and refers to the hairy undersides of the plant's leaves.