Know Your Thistles

Who knew that there were so many different kinds of thistle?  There's milk thistle, bull thistle (also known as spear thistle or Scotch thistle), Canada thistle, tall thistle, globe thistle, fringed thistle, plumeless thistle, wavy-leaf thistle, mountain thistle, prairie thistle, swamp thistle, pasture thistle, elk thistle, sow thistle, Parry's thistle, Drummond's thistle, Flodman's thistle, yellow star thistle, purple star thistle, and plain old yellow thistle - just to name a few.  There are over 200 kinds.  Some are native and some are not.

To the best of my research, these pictured here are of the musk thistle variety.  I loved this beautiful little stand.

Milk thistle will often have drooping heads, which lends to their other name - nodding thistle.

I came across them one morning, and they glowed with a beautiful luminescence in the early sunlight.  Take a gander.

In spite of how gorgeous they are, milk thistle are considered noxious weeds. They are an invasive species, and were brought to the U.S. in the early 19th century.  Farmers work hard to eradicate them from pasture and farm land.