130 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



swords, to offend those that dare to lay hands on them/' 

 and we may well re-echo his words, though clothed in 

 somewhat hyperbolic language, and apply them to this 

 other vexing vegetable, the dwarf thistle. One's first 

 impression on seeing these thistles thickly spreading over 

 the far-reaching downs is that they are some ordinary species 

 that has got dwarfed by the keen winds which sweep across 

 these breezy expanses. We are so used to the idea of 

 thistles some three, four, or even six feet high, that we 

 cannot at once realise that the little rosette at our feet is a 

 truly representative plant, and a veritable and distinct species. 

 The specific name signifies stemless, and the plant is some- 

 times, in popular nomenclature, called the stalkless thistle, 

 but a reference to our illustration will show that these 

 names are not quite in accordance with the facts of the 

 case. Its almost total want of stem at once renders its 

 identification easy ; it rarely attains to more than an inch in 

 height, though we have once or twice seen it four or five 

 inches high. As no other thistle when an inch high 

 develops flower-heads, the present plant cannot be mistaken 

 for the seedling state of any other species. 



The root-stock of the dwarf thistle is woody and 

 perennial, and from it springs a spreading rosette 

 of very prickly leaves closely appressed to the turf, 

 and having numerous and well-armed lateral segments. 

 The darker colour and glossy surface of these leaves 

 tends to make them somewhat conspicuous amongst the 

 short verdant grass-blades ; but in any case the plant is 

 particularly humble-looking, and would entirely escape 

 notice were it not for the large crimson flower which springs 

 from the centre of the radiating leaves. These flower-heads 

 are large even when compared with many other species 



