Saw this tall weedy plant on the side of a paved path in a public park. It would be a bright/sunny area during a sunny time of year with no shade. It reminded me of a thistle but it wasn’t particularly thorny with the exception of the tips of the leaves which ended in small points. The stem was also reddish and green. The flowers looked like small dandelion flowers. This picture was taken on January 25th - the middle of winter on an island in the Puget Sound in WA state. Odd that it was flowering! It was 42 degrees. This plant was tall. With my friend for scale, that is 3.5 feet! Please help me identify this mystery plant? I would love to learn more about it. Thank you! Christina
Sow thistle! Thank you for replying. I really appreciate it. I was only familiar with "milk thistles" in my garden - the real spiny ones. This was something different. There are so many species, but upon comparison of the leaf shape, and lack of other features (like sticky, globby hairs on the flower buds and bracts), my best guess is Sonchus oleraceus, the Smooth sow thistle. Thanks again for helping solve a mystery.
