Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/743

 THISTLE outer ones spreading ; flowers purple. This is a large showy species; its stems in rich soil are 3 to 4 ft. high, and its robust spreading leaves give it a formidable appearance, while in reality it is very easily destroyed ; its root being biennial, there is no danger that it will retain possession of the soil. In Great Britain this is called spear thistle ; it is the Scotch na- THOLUCK 713 Canada Thistle (Cnicus arvensis). al emblem. The other introduced species 0. arvensis, known as the creeping this- in Europe, and in this country by the mis- .omer of the Canada thistle ; it is a perennial, Dreading rapidly and extensively by its long creeping rootstocks, which send to the sur- face numerous stems 18 in. to 3 ft. high ; the handsomely cut leaves are smooth, or some- what woolly below, and very prickly on the margins with slender spines; the heads about half an inch in diameter, on short pedicels and forming a loose terminal corymb; the outer scales of the involucre with minute prickly points; flowers pale lilac. In this species the flowers are dioecious, the male heads nearly globular, with more conspicuous flowers than the female heads, which are longer ; plants of each sex form separate patches. This plant, which has followed cultivation to nearly all parts of the world, is supposed to have re- ceived the name by which it is exclusively known in this country from its having been introduced in the fleeces of sheep brought from Canada ; it is justly regarded by our farmers, as it was in Lapland in the days of Linnaeus, as "the greatest pest of our fields;" its deep roots, below the reach of the plough, and its abundant seeds, furnish it with ample means for spreading; the creeping rootstock is exceedingly tenacious of life, and when broken every fragment is capable of forming a new plant. Many states have a law which makes it obligatory on each owner to destroy tb upon his land, under penalty of its being one by the authorities and the cost charged s a tax. Like other perennial weeds, it soon yields to frequent mowing ; but to be effective this must be persistent. None of our native thistles can be regarded as troublesome weeds. The yellow thistle (0. horridulus) is found near the coast; the pasture thistle (0. pumi- lus) is a low species with very large heads of fragrant purple (or white) flowers; the tall thistle (C. altissimus), a more southern spe- cies, is often 10 ft. high and a rather showy plant. The blessed thistle (C. lenedictus), so called on account of its former use in medi- cine, is barely naturalized southward. The cotton thistle, of a closely related European genus, is onopordon acanthium ; it is a stately plant covered with whitish cottony hairs, and is occasionally met with in the older states. This is said to be cultivated in Scotland as the Scotch thistle, but the best authorities give the common species already described as the em- blematic thistle. The milk fhistle is tilylum Marianum, related to the true thistles, and sometimes cultivated in old gardens; it has purple flowers, and leaves blotched with white. Torch thistle is a name given in tropical coun- tries to the tall species of cereus of the cacta- cece. Sow thistles are coarse composite weeds of the genus sonchus. THISTLE, Order of the (also called the order of St. Andrew), a Scottish order of knight- hood, reputed on very insufficient grounds to be of great antiquity. The thistle is men- tioned as the national emblem of Scotland in the inventory of the effects of James III., who is thought to have adopted it. It appears on coins of James IV., James V., Mary, and James VI., on the last with the motto Nemo me im- pune lacessit. A collar of thistles appears on the gold bonnet pieces of James V. of 1539, and with the royal ensigns depicted in Sir David Lindsay's armorial register of 1542. But this was a mere device. The order had no dis- tinct existence previous to 1687, when a war- rant for its restitution was issued by James VII. of Scotland and II. of England. It fell into abeyance after the abdication of James, but was restored by Anne in 1703, and is now one of the recognized orders of the British em- pire. The warrant of 1687 confined the num- ber of knights to 12, besides the sovereign; but since May, 1827, it has been permanently extended to 16. THOLICK, Friedrich August Gotttren, a German theologian, born in Breslau, March 80, 1799. He completed his education at the university of Berlin, and was thoroughly converted from his skeptical tendencies under the influence of Schleiermacher and Neander, and more espe- cially through Baron von Kottwitz, a mem- ber of the Moravian brotherhood. In 1824 he became professor of oriental literature at Berlin, and in 1826 was transferred to Halle, where he has labored ever since, except in 1828-'9, when he was chaplain to the Prussian embassy at Rome. He at first suffered perse- cution from the prevailing rationalism of his colleagues, but succeeded in effecting a radical