COMMON THISTLE 



\',\'^\t 



All the Thistles are armed cap-a-pie and one wonders 



what enemy is so dreaded that such preparations must 



be made against him. The central stem, the leaves, 



the very involucres 



of the flower-heads 



bristle at every 



point. The leaves, 



woolly beneath, 



rough above, spiny 



on the edges, are 



cleft and cut and 



ruffled, simply, it 



seems, to make room 



for more spines, more 



bristles, and more 



prickles. It is evi- 

 dent that the enemy 

 against whom the 

 treasure-house is 

 guarded is an enemy 

 that has legs but no 

 wings, an enemy 

 that will eat the nec- 

 tar, but cannot dis- 

 tribute the pollen. 



The chief of these is the ant, the omnipresent ant, 

 and bristles are great discouragers of ant industry. 



The beautiful flower-heads are a lovely rose-purple, 

 the florets protected by a prickly involucre and 

 a spiny peduncle. They are borne at the summit of 

 the stem and from the axils of the upper leaves. High- 

 est heads open first, the outer florets mature first 

 Each ray-floret parts into five fringe-like lobes at the 



255 



Roadside Thistle. Cdrduus lanceoldius 



