Syrian Thistle
Notobasis syriaca
Asteraceae, Sunflower Family
![G.S. Whiting. [Between 1933 and 1961] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress. www.loc.gov/item/2013646202/](http://www.gardenindelight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/3.Thistle_p32_GSWhiting_300_FA.jpg "G.S. Whiting. [Between 1933 and 1961] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress. www.loc.gov/item/2013646202/")
I went by the field of a slacker and by the vineyard of a man lacking sense. Thistles had come up everywhere, weeds covered the ground, and the stone wall was ruined.
Proverbs 24:30–31 HCSB
Find thistles in God's Word for Gardeners Bible featured in the Garden Work devotions on Preparing the Soil, beginning on page a-22
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to what your wife said and ate from the tree about which I gave you the order, ‘You are not to eat from it,’ the ground is cursed on your account; you will work hard to eat from it as long as you live. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat field plants.
Genesis 3:17-18 CJB
Cultural Information
| Type | Ornamental Shrub |
| Height | 18 to 36 inches |
| Soil | any soil will do |
| Exposure | full sun |
| Leaves | bold central rib, deeply serrated edges with pointed spines and secondary ribs, leathery, medium to sage green, purple shading in newer growth surrounding flowers |
| Flowers | textured, sage green buds, oval, 1 to 2 inch, bright purple, feathery crown opens to showy tuft, blooms in spring |
Planting Tips
- as thistles are highly invasive, this is probably not a plant for your garden
- also, the Syrian thistle is not cultivated commercially
- other garden-friendly thistles include artichoke, globe thistle, cardoon, and cornflower
Garden to Table
- visit your local florist to find thistles cultivated for flower arrangements - thistles and many unique forms, colors, and textures to floral displays
- try cooking artichokes! These were my favorite vegetable when I was little, and children will enjoy peeling each leaf off of the globe to eat its gentle-tasting flesh at the leaf base
More Research
See Blog Posts on Syrian ThistleIdentifying precise species [of thistles] with specific Scriptures make for a scattered study, as overwhelming as trying to rid one’s field of the invaders or clearing one’s life from the wages of sin. Generally speaking, thistles have spiny or prickly leaves such that one would want gloves to remove them; they are perennial or evergreen plants that quickly spread across untended fields due to the feathery “wings” on their seeds, or by lateral roots, even regenerating from partial roots left after hastily yanking out the intruders.
-from the NIV God's Word for Gardeners Bible
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to what your wife said and ate from the tree about which I gave you the order, ‘You are not to eat from it,’ the ground is cursed on your account; you will work hard to eat from it as long as you live. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat field plants.
Genesis 3:17-18 CJB
Photo Credits
©2009 Dave Milsom Syrian Thistles, photographed in Spain, Flickr.com
G.S. Whiting. [Between 1933 and 1961] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress. www.loc.gov/item/2013646202/
© Whiskybottle | Dreamstime.com Photo 70294515, Syrian Thistle - Notobasis syriaca Purple Mediterranean Wild Flower
