What is this?

[Evergreen28]

We are located on Long Island and this is popping up everywhere in our yard.

 

[Chuck]

Looks like a thistle to me. You will have to wait until the flowers open to "maybe" figure out which one it is. Some flowers are white and some are purple. Don't let it go to seed as it is a noxious weed and when it seeds, next year it will be 10 times worse than it is now.

 

[roadrunner]

That looks like a Sow Thistle to me, which is not a true thistle, but that's assuming that I'm seeing a cluster of flower buds at the top of the plant.

Sow thistles look spiky/spiny, but they're not really, like a true thistle is and the flowers will be yellow and look a little like a dandelion flower. It's a winter crop in my area and I do forage them as an edible green.

Annual Sowthistle / Weeds Identification Gallery / UC Statewide IPM Program (UC IPM)

ipm.ucanr.edu

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Dig one, deep tap root, it's a thistle, more normal looking cluster of roots it will be a sow.
I have never realised sow thisle might be edible, but of course with common names what grows in England under that name might be very different from the US plant called that.

 

[roadrunner]

On the issue of true thistles, here in America, they are given a bad name, because they are invasive and can overtake a field and very prickly. However, there is a native true thistle and this YT channel talks about the very real benefit of the native thistle.

BTW, the reason, I believe, the picture in the OP is a Sow Thistle is because the cluster of flower buds I see in the second photo, after magnifying, looks a lot like what I have in my yard.

BTW, Sow Thistles are also non-native in North America, but they are easy to eat, including for cattle, so they don't get the attention like the true thistles.

 

[Sluggy]

They are certainly invasive. Bought a load of manure spread it on my beds when I lived in Scotland and yes it was filled with thistle seeds. They came up every year do get rid of the flower heads asap and make sure you get to the bottom if the tap root when you dug it up or spray it with root weed killer if so inclined.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

They are certainly invasive. Bought a load of manure spread it on my beds when I lived in Scotland and yes it was filled with thistle seeds. They came up every year do get rid of the flower heads asap and make sure you get to the bottom if the tap root when you dug it up or spray it with root weed killer if so inclined.

Pig manure? They can eat them and the seeds go straight through.

 

[tomkat]

Any kind of nettle/thistle strikes fear into my heart.LOL. Too many Bull Nettle and Stinging nettles around here. I've had a couple of bad run ins with Bull nettle and it aint no fun! BTW around here a butterfly will fly past every other flower in the area to get to the purple/blue flower of a thistle plant.