Pay attention!

Today I was playing with my friend's 1 year old in the yard outside Clara's, and I thought I'd bust out one of my godson's favorite games: "Mimi fall down." This game mostly involves me falling down, and then saying in a silly way, "ohhhhh nooo!" This one year old also seemed to be a big fan. So I started getting pretty into my routine of getting up, then dramatically toppling over, when I fell right on top of something prickly. Ouch!

This thing seemed to be trying to get me to pay attention to something, so I figured I'd best do a google image search for "prickly weed." I'm not completely sure, but signs point to Scotch Thistle (Onopordum acanthium). What a lovely find! Scotch Thistle is a heart tonic, and used as a cardiac stimulant. This site has a lot of good advice on how to cook various parts of the plant.

Resources
http://www.naturalmedicinalherbs.net/herbs/o/onopordum-acanthium=scotch-thistle.php
http://www.weleda.co.nz/scotch-thistle-onopordum/w1/i1003464/
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/weeds/msg091533545748.html