There will not be many countries of the world which have as their National Flower a pernicious weed! That is exactly what most thistles are and farmers and gardeners spend an inordinate amount of time trying to eradicate this tiresome nuisance of a plant.
The choice of the thistle seems strange to say the least - until you hear the story which is behind the choice.
Tradition has it that Scotland was under invasion again - this time from the Danes. The two warring armies were close and the Danes thought they would mount a surprise attack on the Scottish camp during the hours of darkness. There was one snag, the Danes went barefoot to cut down on noise - and they reckoned without having to cross a thistle strewn field!
Their yells wakened the Scots - and the thistles won the day.
As we have done plant surveys of the local countryside for the Scottish Wildlife Trust, I often wondered which variety of thistle featured in the story. Was it the splendid Spear Thistle which has the best (or worst!) spines of all but that grows rather tall and might have been seen that night? Or was it the much more lowly Creeping Thistle that they stood on? Of course, if the ground was marshy, it could have been the Marsh Thistle.....
We will never know for sure but at least we have a National Flower that must be treated with respect!
The applet has nine varieties of European Thistles - and the tenth is below.
