Beastly Thistles; Part 2

In an old Russian fairy tale, fairies in a wildflower meadow protect themselves from a greedy merchant by turning all the lovely blossoms into prickly thistles. God made it clear he was not pleased with Adam, informing him, "Cursed is the ground because of you. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you." Biology professor and farmer Edwin Rollins said of Canada Thistle, "(It is) perhaps the worst weed of the entire United States. The plant does not have a single virtue so far as man is concerned." Thistles are a real publicist's nightmare, and not a few P/R men and women have been driven to the psychiatrist's couch in search of succor.

Maybe they gave up too easily. Maybe they didn't look deep enough. Maybe they were fooled by the rough exterior. Maybe there is a soft underbelly to this spined beast.

Maybe, maybe, maybe.

Thistles, in fact, do have a soft underbelly; they have had many uses over the centuries; some do end up in the garden; thistles attract butterflies and feed birds; some can turn up on the dinner table. Thistles aren't all thorns and prickly bits; no ifs, ands, or maybes.

The Zuni once used Santa Fe Thistle (Cirsium ochrocentrum) to treat syphilis. The Snake Indians gathered and prepared the roots of Elk Thistle (C. foliosum) like carrots; 19th century explorer Truman Everts, lost and alone in Yellowstone, survived for a month on these same roots. The roots of Canada Thistle (C. arvense) were considered diuretic, astringent, and antiphlogistic. The Mohegans used it as a mouthwash for infants. And of Pasture Thistle (C. pumilum), Thoreau wrote, "How many insects a single one attracts! While you sit by it, bee after bee will visit it and busy himself with probing for honey and loading himself with pollen, regardless of your overshadowing presence."

Bees, as well as butterflies do love thistle nectar. And by virtue of how many birds feast on its seeds, birdwatchers have a soft spot for thistles.

Some thistles are sweetly fragrant, which strikes me as a kind of botanical oxymoron. Pasture Thistle's species name was formerly odoratus because of it's delicious aroma. Canada Thistle is also fragrant, giving garden show-offs stiff competition. And British herbalist Maude Grieve once pointed out, "Two or three of our native species are handsome enough to be worthy of a place in gardens."

Thistles are members of the Composite Family. There are about a dozen genera in North America, and many species are non-native, having been inadvertently imported from Europe with crop seeds. The Cirsium genus is one of the larger genera, with more the 90 species in North America.

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