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Thistle Invitations
Thistle invitations for weddings are popular
for Scottish themed weddings and events. For weddings where England and
Scotland are united, the thistle can be arranged with a rose, twined
together. Tartan ribbon can also be incorporated with the thistle
design. Thistle is the common name of a group of
flowering plants characterised by
leaves with
sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family
Asteraceae. Prickles often occur all over the plant - on surfaces
such as those of the stem and flat parts of leaves. These are an
adaptation that protects the plant against
herbivorous animals, discouraging them from feeding on the plant.
Typically, an
involucre with a clasping shape of a cup or urn subtends each of a
thistle's flowerheads.
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 of the thistle, is that a bare foot
Viking attacker stepped on one at night and cried out,
so alerting the defenders of a
Scottish castle.
Whatever the justification, the
national flower of
Scotland is the thistle. The thistle is found in many
Scottish symbols and as
the name of several
Scottish football clubs. Carnegie Mellon University
features the thistle in its crest.
From: botanicals.com Thistle is the
old English name - essentially the same in all kindred languages - for a
large family of plants occurring chiefly in Europe and Asia, of which we
have fourteen species in Great Britain, arranged under the botanical
groups Carduus, Carlina, Onopordon and Carbenia, or Cnicus.
In agriculture the Thistle is the recognized sign of untidiness and
neglect, being found not so much in barren ground, as in good ground not
properly cared for. It has always been a plant of ill repute among us;
Shakespeare classes 'rough Thistles' with 'hateful Docks,' and further
back in the history of our race we read of the Thistle representing part
of the primeval curse on the earth in general, and on man in particular,
for - 'Thorns also and Thistles shall it bring forth to thee.'
Thistles will soon monopolize a large extent of country to the
extinction of other plants, as they have done in parts of the American
prairies, in Canada and British Columbia, and as they did in Australia,
till a stringent Act of Parliament was passed, about twenty years ago,
imposing heavy penalties upon all who neglected to destroy Thistles on
their land, every man being now compelled to root out, within fourteen
days, any Thistle that may lift up its head, Government inspectors being
specially appointed to carry out the enforcement of the law.
The growth of weeds in Great Britain, having, in the opinion of many,
also reached disturbing proportions, it is now proposed to enact a
similar law in this country, and the Smallholders' Union is bringing
forward a 'Bill to prevent the spread of noxious weeds in England and
Wales,' the provisions being similar to the Australian law -
weed-infested roadsides, as well as badly-cleared cultivated land, to
come within the scope of the enactment.
Among the thirteen noxious weeds enumerated in the proposed Bill, the
name of Thistle is naturally to be found. And yet in medicine Thistles
are far from useless.
When beaten up or crushed in a mill to destroy the prickles, the leaves
of all Thistles have proved excellent food for cattle and horses. This
kind of fodder was formerly used to a great extent in Scotland before
the introduction of special green crops for the purpose. The young stems
of many of the Thistles are also edible, and the seeds of all the
species yield a good oil by expression.
Two or three of our native species are handsome enough to be worthy of a
place in gardens. Some species which flourish in hotter and drier
climates than our own, such as the handsome Yellow Thistles of the south
of Europe, Scolymus, are cultivated for that purpose, and have a
classical interest, being mentioned by Hesiod as the flower of summer.
This striking plant, crowned with its golden flowers, is abundant
throughout Sicily. The Fish-bone Thistle (Chamaepeuce diacantha), from
Syria, is also a very handsome plant. A grand Scarlet Thistle from
Mexico (Erythrolena conspicua) was grown in England some fifty years
ago, but is now never seen.
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