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Mary G
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Does anyone know what Thistles are good for? We're doing a bit of sleuthing on some near my in-law's house. I can't find any "reason" for them to exist -- no animal can eat them as they're prickly, they are definitely weeds...etc.
We're particularly interested in the Yellow Thistle (which seems more burgundy to me  )  . Any info someone might have would be great.
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Dawn
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Hi Mary,
I don't know what thistles are good for ... They do they seem a bit of a hindrance to bare little feet! 
But I thought I would tell you that thistles are mentioned in the book I'm reading Mary's Flowers, and are known as Our Lady's or Blessed Thistle, and considered a Flower of the Nativity:
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"The white veins traced on the leaves of the plant are said to be drops of Mary's milk falling on them when the Blessed Mother moved her baby from her breast after feeding him ...
"More than twenty thorny plants are mentioned in the Bible, and from 70 to 120 kinds of thistle are said to grow in Isreal. Thistle florets may be white, yellow or purple ...
"Pilgrims to the Holy Land told of seeing thistles of many kinds bearing foliage of a milk-stained grain as they walked on sacred soil. Their listeners would connect the plants with Mary's name, callling them Virgin Mary's milk thistle or blessed thistle."
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Interesting background anyway! It will also be interesting to hear if anyone has any use for them in the garden! 
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marihalojen
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I just wrote and then lost a nice post all about eating thistles.  So, now that I'm outta time I'll just link the recipes which both contain different ways to render them edible.
Sweet Chili Thistles and Hunchback Thistle Soup
Beautiful picture, Mary.
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MacBeth
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Yellow thistle...is this sow thistle? Sow thistle is edible!
See it here!
Purple thistle is a pest...and it's a symbol of Scotland  . I have it in my yard and I love it, as do the bees. I guess one could say that the bees use it, and that's good enough for me, but, as Viv pointed out to my non-farmer self  , thistle can ruin a crop of hay. Pretty, but pesky. Since no one is growing hay in my 'hood, I can keep it  !
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Mary G
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Dawn: Thanks for that beuatiful excerpt! That will add a cool side-note to our "unit".
Jennifer: The recipes sound pretty good; I think thistle is in the celery family; I just couldn't figure out how animals could eat it if it's so prickly. The picture is beautiful -- I found it on the web on a site about plants of the south.
MacBeth: I don't think it's "sow thistle". The latin name is Cirsium horridulum. I did find on wikipedia that some folks plant thistles on purpose as their flowers are so beautiful. I think that's what attracted us to this one -- that and we found a puff of one (like a huge dandelion head) and the kids were asking about it.
I thought I'd blog about this today and I'll include some pictures we took; I'll link to it once I get my blog written 
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cathhomeschool
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MacBeth, I had no idea that the yellow flowers that were growing all over our yard were edible! I say were because the Chem-lawn guy killed everything when he mistakenly sprayed our yard instead of our neighbor's. (my beautiful clover! <sigh>) And we had just begun our weed and grass study the previous day! 
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cathhomeschool
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| Posted: May 03 2006 at 9:55am | IP Logged
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And I had assumed that "yellow thistle" was some sort of dandelion.
This vitamin website lists some dietary uses of Blessed Thistle, which they say is different from Our Lady's Thistle (milk thistle).
Mary, from what I've read, your thistle is a larval host plant for metalmarks and painted ladies, and a nectar plant for several skippers and other butterflies, hummingbirds, bees, wasps, beetles. The seeds are eaten by songbirds.
I can't imagine anything "large" approaching those prickles! Reminds me of Tigger and his painful breakfast with Eeyore!
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momwise
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You can add Russian Thistle to the list of edible thistle. Also known as tumbleweed (we have had wind storms that blew 8-10 ft. walls of this stuff against the neighbors' houses!), it's hard to believe looking at it that it's edible. I just finished reading The Worst Hard Time, the story of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s and the farmers of the plains ate that stuff day in and day out for years; along with rabbits. The animals, most of which died from being filled up with dirt, ate the thistle as well. The women canned it. I don't know that they had any recipes copied for posterity though .
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MaryM
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Blessed thistle Cnicus benedictus (also called St. Benedict Thistle, Holy Thistle) and Milk thistle Silybum marianum (also called St. Mary's Thistle, Marian Thistle) are two different thistles as Janette mentioned. But both are considered galactogues - meaning they increase milk supply in breastfeeding mothers. I think that is such a cool thing because both are linked to Mary and the Holy Family by name. And I love any links of our Blessed Mother to breastfeeding mothers.
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Mary G
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| Posted: May 04 2006 at 8:12am | IP Logged
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Mary G wrote:
I thought I'd blog about this today and I'll include some pictures we took; I'll link to it once I get my blog written |
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As promised -- here are the pictures....The Mystery of Nature -- enjoy!
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lapazfarm
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I'm not sure which kind of thistle, but I know many birds love to eat thistle seed. There are specific feeders for it.
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JennGM
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I just received a VERY late Christmas gift of Mary Engelbreit's Night Before Christmas and read it to ds this morning. At least the end of the poem needs to be included in your study of thistles!
"And away they all flew like the down of a thistle."
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Mary G
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Thanks Jenn-- awesome connection!
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MaryG
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JennGM
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Globe artichokes is a member of the thistle family. I was making some tonight and pulling out the "choke" (thistley part).
That's one thistle I don't mind eating...
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rose gardens
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lapazfarm wrote:
| I'm not sure which kind of thistle, but I know many birds love to eat thistle seed. There are specific feeders for it. |
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Finches enjoy thistle seeds. The section on Art Appreciation: Recognizing Symbolism inReligious Art by Pattie Kelley-Huff in the Catholic Homeschool Companion tells about her family's adventure with a finch. She latter discussed a painting"Madonna of the Goldfinch" . She writes that since the finch is fond of eating thistle and thorns, in religious art finches allude to the crown of thorns and therefore symbolize of the Passion of Christ.
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JennGM
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rose gardens wrote:
lapazfarm wrote:
| I'm not sure which kind of thistle, but I know many birds love to eat thistle seed. There are specific feeders for it. |
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Finches enjoy thistle seeds. The section on Art Appreciation: Recognizing Symbolism inReligious Art by Pattie Kelley-Huff in the Catholic Homeschool Companion tells about her family's adventure with a finch. She latter discussed a painting"Madonna of the Goldfinch" and shares she learned the since the goldfinch is fond of eating thistle and thorns, in religious art finches the symbolize of the Passion of Christ. |
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Great info, thanks!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Thistles
