This listing if for 25 fresh seeds(2023 harvest) for 2024 season Purple Spear Thistle / Bull Thistle Item will ship via USPS first class Cirsium vulgare, the spear thistle, bullthistle, or common thistle, is a species of the Asteraceae genusCirsium, native throughout most of Europe, Western Asia, andnorthwestern Africa. And flourishes throughout the United Stateswithout any invitation. It was introduced to the UnitedStates in the early 1800s, when the seeds were accidentally mixedinto food crop seeds on vessels arriving to the US. Thepurple bull thistle (cirsium vulgare) is a biennial plant thatbelongs to the asteraceae (sunflower) family. The bull thistle haspinkish violet to purple flowers, which produces a productknown as the thistledown. (as shown in our photo’s) The flowers attract bees because they like to suck on the heavy pollen,so if you need bees to pollinate other plants, than the Bull Thistle can be pretty useful. It can also be useful to create a barrier to keep out intruders. The taproots are also good for the soil ecology.The plantp rovides a great deal of nectarfor pollinators.It was rated in the top 10 for most nectar production (nectar perunit cover per year) in a UKplants survey conducted by the AgriLand project which is supported bythe UK Insect Pollinators Initiative.[9]Marsh thistle, Cirsiumpalustre, was rankedin first place while this thistle was ranked in sixth place. It alsowas a top producer of nectar sugar in another study in Britain,ranked third with a production per floral unitInformation Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirsium_vulgare Edible Parts Bull thistle root can be eaten and is best used when mixed with other vegetables. Young flower stems can be cooked and young leaves can be eaten in a salador tossed into a sauté. The prickles MUST BE removed from the leavesbefore the leaves can be eaten! Many blogs and websites have details on themedicinal benefits of this plant Disclaimer– These seeds are not for human consumption.We do not advocate the consumption of this plant or it’s seed in anyway. It is not being sold with the intent for the consumer to eat,smoke or extract any chemical properties and/or use it for any medical treatments, it will not be sold to anyone that wants to use it for any type of consumption. Our seeds are sold strictly to grow beautiful Bull Thistle flowers in your garden. Buyer responsible for knowing their state’s/areas rules on Bull Thistle. Buyer agrees to make payment withing 3 days of purchased via ebay approved method. All items are sold asis no returns per ebay policy recommendations. Please ask questions before bidding. Thanks for looking!