Common sowthistle vs Spiny sowthistle

Sonchus oleraceus compared with Sonchus asper

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Common sowthistle	Spiny sowthistle
Kingdom same	Plantae (Plants)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum same	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class same	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)
Order same	Asterales (Daisies & Sunflowers)	Asterales (Daisies & Sunflowers)
Family same	Asteraceae (Daisy Family)	Asteraceae (Daisy Family)
Genus same	Sonchus	Sonchus
Species	Sonchus oleraceus	Sonchus asper

Evolutionary Relationship

Common sowthistle and Spiny sowthistle share a common ancestor at the Genus level: Sonchus.

Conservation Status

Common sowthistle

LC — Least Concern

Spiny sowthistle

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Common sowthistle	Spiny sowthistle
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Common sowthistle

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas, and flooded grasslands and savannas, among 10 distinct biome types. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (16 countries), Asia (12 countries), Europe (12 countries), North America (10 countries), Oceania and the Pacific (Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Samoa), and South America (5 countries).

Spiny sowthistle

Habitat

Inhabits tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests and tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests within the Afrotropic biogeographic realm.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (14 countries), Asia (11 countries), Europe (13 countries), North America (7 countries), Oceania and the Pacific (Australia, Fiji, Micronesia), and South America (7 countries).

Common sowthistle

<em>Sonchus oleraceus</em>, commonly known as the common sowthistle, is a cosmopolitan annual herb in the family Asteraceae, native to Europe and western Asia but now naturalised across nearly every continent. This species typically inhabits disturbed ground, roadsides, agricultural fields, gardens, and waste places, thriving in a wide range of soil types and climatic conditions. It is one of the most widely distributed weedy plants on Earth, with a geographic range spanning temperate and subtropical regions worldwide including North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and beyond. Classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, <em>Sonchus oleraceus</em> is among the most ecologically successful colonisers of human-modified environments. The plant typically grows to 20–120 cm in height, producing distinctive yellow composite flower heads and lobed, spiny-margined leaves with milky latex sap. It completes its lifecycle rapidly, producing numerous wind-dispersed achenes that facilitate broad dispersal. As a plant, dietary traits are not applicable in the animal sense; it is itself consumed as a food source by livestock, insects, and in some cultures as an edible green for humans. Biological traits such as average lifespan metrics remain poorly documented for this weedy annual, though it typically completes its lifecycle within a single growing season.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 32 countries:

🇦🇴 Angola 🇦🇷 Argentina 🇧🇪 Belgium 🇧🇷 Brazil 🇨🇦 Canada 🇨🇱 Chile 🇨🇴 Colombia 🇨🇩 Congo (DRC) 🇩🇰 Denmark 🇪🇨 Ecuador 🇫🇷 France 🇬🇪 Georgia 🇮🇸 Iceland 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan 🇲🇬 Madagascar 🇲🇽 Mexico 🇳🇦 Namibia 🇰🇵 North Korea 🇳🇴 Norway 🇵🇦 Panama 🇵🇱 Poland 🇵🇹 Portugal 🇶🇦 Qatar 🇸🇰 Slovakia 🇿🇦 South Africa 🇰🇷 South Korea 🇸🇪 Sweden 🇹🇼 Taiwan 🇺🇦 Ukraine 🇺🇸 United States 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe