The Scotch Thistle, or Cotton Thistle (Onopordon
Acanthium) is one of the most beautiful of British plants, not
uncommon in England, by roadsides and in waste places, particularly in
chalky and sandy soils in the southern counties.
---Description---It
is a biennial, flowering in late summer and autumn. The erect stem, 18
inches to 5 feet high, is very stout and much branched, furnished with
wing-like appendages (the decurrent bases of the leaves) which are broader
than its own diameter. The leaves are very large, waved and with sharp
prickles on the margin. The flowers are light purple and surrounded with a
nearly globular involucre, with scales terminating in strong, yellow
spines.
The whole plant is hoary with a white,
cottony down, that comes off readily when rubbed, and causes the young
leaves to be quite white. From the presence of this covering, the Thistle
has obtained its popular name of Cotton or Woolly Thistle.
This species is one of the stiffest and
most thorny of its race, and its sharp spines well agree with Gerard's
description of the plant as 'set full of most horrible sharp prickles, so
that it is impossible for man or beast to touch the same without great
hurt and danger.'
Which is the true Scotch Thistle even
the Scottish antiquarians cannot decide, but it is generally considered to
be this species of Thistle that was originally the badge of the House of
Stuart, and came to be regarded as the national emblem of Scotland. The
first heraldic use of the plant would appear to be in the inventory of the
property of James III of Scotland, made at his death in 1458, where a
hanging embroidered with 'thrissils' is mentioned. It was, undoubtedly, a
national badge in 1503, in which year Dunbar wrote his poetic allegory,
'The Thrissill and the Rose,' on the union of James IV and Princess
Margaret of England. The Order of the Thistle, which claims, with the
exception of the Garter, to be the most ancient of our Orders, was
instituted in 1540 by James V, and revived by James VII of Scotland and
Second of England, who created eight Knights in 1687. The expressive motto
of the Order, Nemo me impune lacessit (which would seem to apply
most aptly to the species just described), appears surrounding the Thistle
that occupies the centre of the coinage of James VI. From that date until
now, the Thistle has had a place on our coins.
Pliny states, and mediaeval writers
repeat, that a decoction of Thistles applied to a bald head would restore
a healthy growth of hair.
---Medicinal Action
and Uses---The Ancients supposed this
Thistle to be a specific in cancerous complaints, and in more modern times
the juice is said to have been applied with good effect to cancers and
ulcers.
A decoction of the root is astringent
and diminishes discharges from mucous membranes.
Gerard tells us, on the authority of
Dioscorides and Plinv, that 'the leaves and root hereof are a remedy for
those that have their bodies drawn backwards,' and Culpepper explains that
not only is the juice therefore good for a crick in the neck, but also as
a remedy for rickets in children. It was considered also to be good in
nervous complaints.
The name of the genus is derived from
the Greek words onos (an ass) and perdon (I disperse wind),
the species being said to produce this effect in asses.
The juicy receptacle or disk on which
the florets are placed was used in earlier times as the Artichoke - which
is also a member of the Thistle tribe. The young stalks, when stripped of
their rind, may be eaten like those of the Burdock.
The cotton is occasionally collected
from the stem and used to stuff pillows, and the oil obtained from the
seeds has been used on the Continent for burning, both in lamps and for
ordinary culinary purposes. Twelve pounds of the seeds are said to
produce, when heat is used in expression, about 3 lb of oil.
The greater number of the Thistles are
assigned to the genus Carduus. The derivation of the name of this
genus is difficult to determine; by some orders it is said to come from
the Greek cheuro, a technical word denoting the operation of
carding wool, to which process the heads of some of the species are
applicable.
