Thistle

This picture from late summer 2000 shows some seeds of the Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense). As many other thistles it typically grows as weed on edges of paths or fallow land. The specimen on the picture grew on a strip between a field and a country road. Although thistles are not very popular with most people, there is a european country, which even uses the thistle as national symbol: Scotland.

The plants of the genus Cirsium can be distinguished from other thistles by the filaments hanging on the seed (they are called the "pappus") being delicately pennate.