Originally a native of the warm regions of Europe, the Welted Thistle is now practically universal, recognized throughout the world as a weed of field paths, fallow land, clearings, gardens, and waste places. Also universal is its lack of popularity – except with bees, small songbirds, and donkeys.

One of these is Common Hemp-nettle. True, its seeds are quite large and contain a fair amount of fatty substances, but they are also relatively toxic. Feed containing as little as five per cent Common Hemp-nettle causes poisoning of livestock, particularly horses, in which it induces a kind of depression or melancholia.

comrrion Hemp-nettle is now found in Europe, Asia, and North America on practically any poor ground in both lowland regions and mountains. Originally, it grew thinly in woodlands and whenever an area was deforested it sprang up in abundance.

Chickens, however, were not amused if a careless farmhand fed them chickweed seeds mixed with the seeds of Scarlet Pimpernel, since, commonly called ‘chicken plague’ (Morbus gallinae in mediaeval Latin), the Scarlet Pimpernel is a poisonous plant, particularly its seeds. The toxic effect of the Scarlet Pimpernel is to lower blood pressure and slow the action of the heart; paradoxically, though, it also lowers the level of adrenalin in the body, thereby raising the blood pressure.

The swellings below the individual nodes from which opposite leaves grow are characteristic. Depending on local conditions the stem may only be 10 cm high, or it “nay grow to more than 60 cm. The flowering period is from June until October. When the flowers fade, the labiate corollais shed and the bracts on the upper part of the stem become slightly rigid and prickly too. The fruit is a nutlet.

As with a great number of other interesting plants in the same group, the prickly power of the thistles resides in the leaves (usually pinnatifid or pinnatisect, deeply and sharply toothed) and the stem, which is spinous-winged,