Scolymus is a genus of three species of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

s in the family Asteraceae

Asteraceae

The Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...

, native to the Mediterranean region and western Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 north to northwestern 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...

.

Like other related plants also called thistle

Thistle

Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles often occur all over the plant – on surfaces such as those of the stem and flat parts of leaves. These are an adaptation that protects the...

s, they are annual or perennial herbaceous

Herbaceous

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

 plants with spiny leaves and stems. They grow to 20-90 cm tall, with bright yellow flowerheads.

There are three species:

• Scolymus grandiflorus – Large-flowered Golden Thistle
• Scolymus hispanicus
  Scolymus hispanicus
  Scolymus hispanicus is a flowering plant in the genus Scolymus in the family Asteraceae, native to southern and western Europe, north to northwestern France....
  
  – Common Golden Thistle or Spanish Oyster Thistle
• Scolymus maculatus
  Scolymus maculatus
  Scolymus maculatus is an annual plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Mediterranean region in southern Europe, southwest Asia, and northern Africa, and also the Canary Islands....
  
  – Spotted Golden Thistle