Milk Thistle

 

This pretty bloom belongs to the Milk thistle.  I saw these on my walk near Galla Lake. The thistle is the floral emblem of Scotland and Lorraine, as well as the emblem of the Encyclopædia Britannica.  Thistles are valued for their high wildlife value, producing such things as copious floral resources for pollinators, nourishing seeds for birds like the goldfinch, foliage for butterfly larvae, and down for the lining of birds' nests.  Thankful Logan sprayed Galla Meadow.  It’s free of weeds.  Thistles represent sin in the Bible.

God spoke of thistles in Genesis when he told Adam—“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;

Cursed is the ground because of you;

In toil you will eat of it

All the days of your life.

“Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;

And you will eat the plants of the field;

By the sweat of your face

You will eat bread,

Till you return to the ground,

Because from it you were taken;

For you are dust,

And to dust you shall return.”