Thistles are tough, spiky wildflowers with beautiful purple or pink fluffy flowers sitting on top like little crowns! But watch out – the leaves and stems are covered in sharp, prickly thorns that work like tiny swords to keep hungry animals from munching on them. Thistles are so tough that they can grow in all kinds of places, from meadows and fields to rocky hillsides and even cracks in sidewalks. The thistle is the national flower of Scotland, and there is an old story that thistles once saved Scotland from an enemy army because a soldier stepped on one barefoot and yelled so loud that it woke everyone up!
Even though thistles look prickly and a little scary, they are actually super helpful to animals. Colorful goldfinches love to eat thistle seeds, and they use the soft, fluffy down from inside the flowers to build the coziest, softest nests you can imagine. Bees and butterflies visit thistle flowers all day long because they are packed with delicious nectar. When a thistle flower is done blooming, it turns into a ball of fluff and the seeds float away on the wind, just like dandelion seeds. Some thistles can grow taller than a grown-up person, and their roots can reach very deep underground to find water even when the weather is dry.
