This article is about the plant, for other uses see Thistle . Thistle is the common name of a polyphyletic group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp spines or prickles on the margins, mostly in the plant family Asteraceae. Their prickles often occur all over the plant, including on the stem and flat parts of the leaf. These are an adaptation to protect the plant against herbivorous animals, discouraging them from feeding on the plant. Heraldry In the language of flowers, the thistle (like the burr) is an ancient Celtic symbol of nobility of character as well as of birth, for the wounding or provocation of a thistle yields punishment. For this reason the thistle is the symbol of the Order of the Thistle, a high chivalric order of Scotland. Another story is that a Viking attacker stepped on one at night and cried out, so alerting the defenders of a Scottish castle.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z # TAGS