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 

 eriphorus) as the Scotch thistle. At Inverness Sir 



James Grantsaidthat 

 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). 



