Thistle

The definition of a weed is "A wild plant growing where it is not wanted and in competition with cultivated plants." So if I say that I like weeds, doesn't that not make them weeds? To me a weed have always been a plant that needs a little more than other plants (thus they took nutrients from other plants) and I could never find anything bad about that. My mother is the kind of person who, if I ever say that dandilions are pretty, will say "its weed" as if that changes its beauty. Weed or not, a plant is a plant, calling one a weed is like calling a child a nuisance, and one of the first things I learned as a child was making fun of people is terrible, but making-fun of them for something they can't help is evil.

The thistle is the emblem of the Scottish nation, it is also a prickly-leaved, pink or purple-flowered weed. And you know what? I like that the thistle is simple, common, and yes, a weed. If it weren't those things, I'm not sure I would appreciate it as such an emblem. Imagine something that people call/consider a weed being put on kilts, crests, and jewlery all over Scotland as something to be proud of.

The legend of how this plant became the emblem is that  an invading Norse army was attempting to sneak up at night upon a Scottish army's encampment. During this operation one barefoot Norseman had the misfortune to step upon a thistle, causing him to cry out in pain, thus alerting Scots to the presence of the Norse invaders. You go thistle! Simple a plant as it was, it protected its people using what it had been given.

--JSparrow