454 



FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



in Dumfries, it could scarcely have been the tradi- 

 tionary thistle of Scotland. A young chieftain in 

 the Hebrides pointed out another plant {Carduus 

 eriphoriis) as the Scotch thistle. At Inverness Sir 



James Grant said that 

 the Scotch thistle 

 was the only one that 

 drooped {Carduus 

 nutans) ; and, finally, 

 Sir William Drum- 

 mond maintained 

 that no particular 

 thistle, but any 

 thistle the poet or 

 painter chose, was 

 the national flower of 

 Scotland. Whether 

 it was a thistle armed 

 with spines or not 

 was contested, and 

 this induced Dr. 

 Johnston to seek a 

 solution by an ex- 

 amination of the 

 figures impressed on 

 the money of the 

 kings of Scotland. " Now, the first who so marked 

 his money was James V., and on the coins of 



Fig- 95- 



■Musk Thistle {Carduus 

 nutans). 



