Cirsium arvense is a perennial species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native throughout Europe and western Asia, northern Africa and widely introduced elsewhere.^[2][3][4][5] The standard English name in its native area is creeping thistle.^[6] It is also commonly misnomered as Canada thistle and sometimes as field thistle.^[7][8]

A number of other names are used in other areas or have been used in the past, including: Canadian thistle, lettuce from hell thistle, California thistle,^[9] corn thistle, cursed thistle, field thistle, green thistle, hard thistle, perennial thistle, prickly thistle, setose thistle, small-flowered thistle, way thistle, and stinger-needles. Canada and Canadian thistle are in wide use in the United States, despite being a misleading designation, since it is not of Canadian origin.^[10]