Cirsium acaule or acaulon has the English name Dwarf Thistle. It can be found in various parts of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, and France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 to Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. It is found on short, calcerous grasslands.

Description

It is a perennial herb. The leaves are a spreading rosette, spiny, 10 to 15 cm long. They are more or less hairy above, but more or less hairy underneath.

There is usually only one flower head, although there can sometimes be 2 or 3. Usually it is not stalked from the leaf rosette. The flower is 3 to 4 cm long, the florets are red/purple. They flower from June to September.