Carduus tenuiflorus is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae.

[1] It is native to western Europe and Northwest Africa, and is an introduced species elsewhere.

Its tall stem is ridged with wings and has long spines which may be several centimeters in length.

[citation needed] The inflorescences may hold up to 20 flower heads which are somewhat rounded, covered in wide, spiny phyllaries, and packed with pale pink to bright purple long-tubed disc florets.

Carduus tenuiflorus is native to western North Africa in: northern Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia; Macaronesia; and much of western Europe in: Belgium, France, including Corsica, Ireland, Italy including Sardinia and Sicily, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain including the Balearic Islands, and the United Kingdom.