THE SOW-THISTLE. 159 



lobes, and have their outlines roughly serrated. The upper 

 leaves are much simpler in form than the lower. The 

 general arrangement of the flower-heads is paniculate. 

 The drum-like form of the involucre, and its conical 

 character after the flower-heads have withered away, are 

 noticeable features. The seeds we have found continue to 

 develop after the plant is gathered. We once picked a 

 piece in full flower, and after sketching it forgot to throw 

 it away. On noticing it a few days after, we found that 

 several of the characteristic globular heads that betoken 

 the ripening seed, had formed, and were, in fact, so far 

 matured that they were already scattering their seed ; and, 

 had our study been but the congenial soil they love, we 

 should speedily have been overrun with the young seedling 

 plants. 



The sow-thistle was by the ancient writers accounted 

 very wholesome and nourishing as an article of diet. It is 

 recorded by Pliny that Theseus, prior to his encounter with 

 the bull that was ravaging the plain of Marathon which 

 he afterwards captured and led to Athens, offering it in 

 sacrifice to the goddess Athene, who had lent him her aid 

 in the undertaking took as a prelude and suitable nourish- 

 ment a dish of sow-thistles. The young leaves are still in 

 some parts of the Continent employed as an ingredient 

 in salads, though the ancient belief in their strengthening 

 qualities seems to have in great measure passed away. In 

 the Middle Ages, of course, the plant, like almost every 

 other, was accredited with healing powers. " The milk 

 that is taken from the stalks when they are broken, given 

 in drink, is very beneficial to those that are short-winded 

 and have a wheezing/'' It was also prescribed for inflam- 

 mation, deafness, and many other things, and used by the 



