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Thistles I: Cirsium and Carduus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

Larry W. Mitich
Larry W. Mitich*
Affiliation:
Dept. Bot., Univ. Calif., Davis, CA 95616
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Extract

When Scotland was under an imminent Viking invasion, the Scots piled the beaches with thistles and waited. During the night of the invasion, the sandal-clad Norsemen leaped onto the thistle-strewn beach and let out cries of pain and curses. Warned of their approach, the Scots drove the Norsemen back to their ships. Small wonder that the thistle became Scotland's heraldic emblem and the source of her motto, “Touch Me Who Dares”. Since 1687, induction into Scotland's Order of the Thistle has been a great honor. Linnaeus named Scotch thistle, Onopordum acanthium L. # ONRAC, from the Greek onos, or donkey, and perdo, to consume; the species name is from the Latin acanthus, meaning spiny. Thus it is a spiny plant eaten by donkeys.

Information

Type
Intriguing World of Weeds
Information
Weed Technology , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , April 1988, pp. 228 - 229
Copyright
Copyright © 1988 by the Weed Science Society of America 

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References

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