Plant height, fullness, and crowdedness of Silybum marianum.

Methods: A transect was laid down by a <em>Silybum marianum</em> and was stepped on in a straight line until it hit the next <em>S. marianum</em>. The height of each <em>S. marianum</em> was measured in centimetres from where the stem met the ground to the highest point on the plant using another transect and recorded. Next, the number of flowers and leaf bunches were counted and recorded per individual plant as well as a rating from 0-3 of plant crowdedness was recorded. Then the distance between each plant was measured along the transect in centimetres and recorded. This was repeated for the first 15 S. marianum (plants 1-15) and repeated again in another area of the grassland for another 10 S. marianum (plants 16-25). This data was collected in the grassland east of Stong Pond at approximately 4:30pm on Tuesday, September 23, 2014.