re. Its taste is intensely bitter.

The Carline Thistle (_Carlina vulgaris_) was formerly used in
magical incantations. It possesses medicinal qualities very like those
of Elecampane, being diaphoretic, and in larger doses purgative.
The herb contains some resin, and a volatile essential oil of a
camphoraceous nature, like that of Elecampane, and useful for
similar purposes, as cordial and antiseptic. This Thistle grows on
dry heaths especially near the sea, and is easily distinguished from
other Thistles by the straw-coloured glossy radiate long inner scales
of its outer floral cup. They rise up over the florets in wet weather.
The whole plant is very durable, like that of the "everlasting
flowers:" Cudweed (_Antennaria_).

The name Carlina was given because the Thistle was used by
Charles the Great as a remedy against the plague. It was revealed to
him when praying for some means to stay this pestilence which was
destroying his army. In his sleep there appeared to him an angel
who shot [559] an arrow from a cross bow, telling him to mark the
plant upon which it fell: for that with such plant he might cure his
soldiers of the dire epidemic: which event really happened, the herb
thus indicated being the said thistle. In Anglo-Saxon it was the
ever-throat, or boar-throat.

On the Continent a large white blossom of this species is nailed
upon cottage doors by way of a barometer to indicate the weather if
remaining open or closing.

The wild Teasel (_Dipsacus sylvestris_) grows commonly in waste
places, having tall stems or stalks, at the bottom of which are leaves
(like bracts) united at their sides so as to form a cup, open upwards,
around the base of the stalk, and hence the term "_Dipsacus_,"
thirsty. This cup serves to retain rain water, which is thought to
acquire curative properties, being used, for one purpose, to remove
warts. The cup is called Venus' basin, and its contents, says Ray, are
of service _ad verrucas abigendas_; also it is named Barber's Brush,
and Church Broom.

The Fuller's Teasel, or Thistle (_Dipsacus fullonum_) is so termed
from its use in combing and dressing cloth,--_teasan_, to tease,--
three Teaselheads being the arms of the Cloth Weavers' Company.
This is found in the neighbourhood of the cloth districts, but is not
considered to be a British plant. It is probably a cultivated variety of
the wild Teasel, but differs by having the bristles of its receptacles
hooked.

The Sow Thistle