| Scientific name: | Sonchus oleraceusL. | |
| Synonym name: | Hieracium oleraceum L., Lactuca oleracea L. | |
| Swedish name: | Kålmolke, kålmjölktistel, mjölktistel | |
| German name: | Gemüse-Gänsedistel, Kohl-Gänsediste, Gewöhnliche Gänsedistel | |
| Nederlandse naam: | Gewone melkdistel | |
| English name: | Common sowthistle, Sow thistle, Smooth Sow Thistle, Annual Sow Thistle, Hare's Colwort, Hare's Thistle, Milky Tassel, Swinies | |
| Plant Family: | Asteraceae, Sunflower family, Korgblommiga växter |
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| Life form: | Therophyte, Annual herb | |
| Stems: | 5 Angled dark green hollow stem (sometimes tinted with a reddish-purple tinge); milky juice; hairless. | |
| Leaves: | Rosette, basal leaves 5–25 cm long, lanceolate, base not stem clasping; stem leaves 6–35 cm long, lanceolate, usually lobed and with pointed stem clasping basal lobes. | |
| Flowers: | Pale yellow small flowers (florets) in heads; lacks glandular hairs on the flower head bracts | |
| Flowering Period: | June, July, August, September | |
| Fruits: | Achene 2.5-4mm long and 1mm wide, brown, 3-ribbed on each face, wrinkled with narrow margins and compressed and obovoid in shape. The seeds are light with white parachutes of silky hairs (pappus), the silky hairs 5-8mm long. | |
| Habitat: | Common in Southern and Central Sweden, but is rare in Northern Sweden; Fields, pastures, roadsides, gardens and edges of yards, vacant lots, construction sites, and waste places. |
Derivation of the botanical name: Sonchus,Greek name for sow-thistle plants. oleraceus, of the vegetable garden; herbs used in cooking. Hieracium, Greek hierax, "a hawk." Pliny the Elder (23-79) believed that hawks fed on this plant to strengthen their eyesight and thus it became the Greek and Latin name for this and similar plants, the common name of which is hawkweed. Lactuca, Latin lact, milk, referring to the milky sap.
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