FLOWERS OF HISTORY. 



453 



in 1503, on the occasion of the marriage of James IV. 

 with Margaret Tudor. Hamilton of Bargowe ex- 

 pressly states that 

 the plant was the 

 ■"Monarch's choice," 1 

 and Sir D. Lindsey 

 in 1537, mentions it 

 as the emblem of 

 James V. 



The botanical 

 question, " which is 

 the true Scotch 

 thistle ?" was inves- 

 tigated by Dr. G. 

 Johnston, 2 and his 

 ■conclusions are 

 those now generally 

 accepted. What is 

 denominated by 

 gardeners the 

 "Scotch Thistle" 3 

 is an introduced 

 plant, and not a native, and, though it has had 

 advocates, and is planted round the grave of Burns 



Fig. 94. — Cotton Thistle [Onopordum 

 acanthiuni). 



1 Notes in Dunbar's Poems, vol. ii., p. 219. 



2 Johnston's "Botany of the Eastern Borders," p. 130. 



Onopordum acanthium. 



