I have a love/hate relationship with thistles. The “hate” part comes back when I fly fish Mossy Creek. The stream is especially productive in September when leaping grasshoppers miss their mark and plop in the stream – to the delight of some large brown trout.
But fly casting involves back casts where you flip the line backwards to load the rod, only to see the line settle in the stream with no fly. Behind you, you see, is field of 6-foot thistles and one of them snatched your fly. Next cast? Same thing. I hate thistles when I fly fish.
But, they are things of beauty.
Travelling along our roads and highways, there are many lovely wild plants. Some are overwhelming in beauty, and none were planted. They are as wild as the wind. And the wind is responsible for planting many of them, most notably the thistles.
Thistles include a wide range of plants known for their sharp spines and prickles. These beauties will hurt you, but have they ever been magnificent this summer. The thistle I commonly see begins with a strawberry rose flower before morphing into a thistle down, similar to the down of a milkweed. Within the down, though, are many tiny seeds, relished by small birds like the gold finches.
The beautiful thistle flowers are prized by many butterflies and other nectar-loving insects, such as bumblebees. The thistle has been the national emblem for Scotland for nearly a thousand years. Legend has it that a sleeping party of Scottish warriors were saved from ambush by an invading Norse army when one of the enemies trod on the spiky plant. His anguished cry roused the slumbering warriors who duly vanquished the invaders and then adopted the thistle as their national symbol. In medieval times, it was said to be a remedy for baldness. Other medical applications of old were said to be cures for headaches, cancer sores, vertigo, jaundice and even “the plague. Even today, some thistles are used in the manufacture of pharmaceutical compounds such as Silibinin.
To me, a thistle is a thing of remarkable beauty, unless I’m fly fishing.