I: Thistle
A partial list of the thistle countries hidden inside others.
Good morning. Today is primidi, the 21st of Thermidor, Year CCXXXI. We celebrate la carline, a flower with extremely uninviting leaves.
The thistle is the emblem of Scotland, because, legend has it, Viking invaders attempting to raid a village in the dead of night once stepped on a thistle, said "yowwwww" (or however you spell that in Old Norse), and alerted the defending Scots army that the battle was at hand. Thistles are an interesting and varied category of flower, and are alternately considered highly beneficial – as medicine or pollinator food or people food or just plain pretty – and highly obnoxious – as weeds and prickly food prickers or just plain ugly. Because they exist in this wanted vs. unwanted space and are the emblem of a nation that's in an iffy sub-nation state at the moment, let's look at all the thistles in the world and how their "host" countries feel about them:
