Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T17:44:28.351Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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.

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 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

1. Britton, N. L., and Brown, A. 1898. Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, v. 3. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.Google Scholar
2. Darlington, W. 1859. American Weeds and Useful Plants. Orange Judd & Company, New York.Google Scholar
3. Frankton, C. 1963. Weeds of Canada (2nd ed). Canada Dep. Agric., Ottawa.Google Scholar
4. Haughton, C. S. 1978. Green Immigrants. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York.Google Scholar
5. Holm, L. G., Plucknett, D. L., Pancho, J. V., and Herberger, J. P. 1977. Weeds of the World – Distribution and Biology. The Univ. Press of Hawaii, Honolulu.Google Scholar
6. Jaeger, E. C. 1947. A Source-book of Biological Names and Terms. Charles C. Thomas Pub., Springfield, IL.Google Scholar
7. King, L. J. 1966. Weeds of the World – Biology and Control. The Univ. Press, Aberdeen, Great Britain.Google Scholar
8. Mulligan, G. A., ed. 1979. The Biology of Canadian Weeds, Contributions 1–32. Agric. Can. Pub. 1693, Ottawa.Google Scholar
9. Plowden, C. C. 1970. A Manual of Plant Names (2nd ed). Philosophical Library, New York.Google Scholar