BLUE AND PURPLE WILD FLOWERS 
never saw it that way. Because it threatened his hay 
fields, laws have been enacted in some states for its 
speedy extermination. Notwithstanding their con- 
demnable qualities, they are really one of the hand- 
somest ornamental plants that have come to our shores. 
_ They are especially attractive and conspicuous in our 
meadows and pastures, because cattle and horses 
studiously avoid them and graze all around them, 
and bees and butterflies are always hovering delight- 
fully about them. Some of the species have been used 
as a remedy for swelled veins. They were held at one 
time to be a sure cure for the “blues,” and to dream 
of Thistles was considered an omen of good luck. 
Silly lassies of olden days, who desired to anticipate 
their lover’s sincerity, did so by placing trimmed 
Thistles under their pillows at night, and noting cer- 
tain changes in them the following morning. 
COMMON, BUR OR SPEAR THISTLE 
Cirstum lanceolatum. Thistle Family. 
A large, biennial species, with its round, branching 
stalk growing from three to five feet high. It is very 
leafy, and is covered with a fine whitish wool. The 
long, dark green, lance-shaped leaves have a long, 
tapering point, and their margins are deeply, irre- 
gularly and fantastically cut, each projection being 
tipped with a long, stiff, and exceedingly sharp, needle- 
like point that terminates its midrib, and which easily 
pierces the skin upon the slightest provocation. The 
upper surface is rough and prickly, and the under side 
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