Such an interesting plant with a strikingly beautiful flower, recognized as a sign of untidiness and neglect, found not so much in barren ground but in good ground not properly cared for. The Thistle gets a bad rap as a plant of ill repute; Shakespeare refers to the 'rough Thistles' with 'hateful Docks', also touted as part of the primeval curse on the earth and on man in particular. Another story that I like is that a bare foot Viking attacker stepped on one at night and cried out, so alerting the defenders of a Scottish castle. Whatever the justification, the national flower of Scotland is the Thistle. And rightly so! On the brighter side, I find them beautiful, from a distance, cows love chewing them, the young stems are edible by humans and the seeds yield a nice oil. Sort of a more tropical version of our desert's Prickly pear cactus.
