Every One a Revengeful Burst
Yellow Star Thistle. Maltese Star Thistle. Or something else entirely, I don't know. Both those two are invasive. I think this looks a little more like Yellow Star, so until an expert says otherwise, I'm going with that. Yellow Star Thistle is everywhere. It really seems to know no bounds. That may be one thing where the way is wide, but let it narrow or, disappear entirely when you decide to do a little exploring / bushwhacking and ouch, you better hope you didn't forget to pack some shinguards. Passing within reach of those rangy stems, each tipped with spiked yellow flower heads is not a pleasant sensation. Those bigger taller thistles may stab at your knuckles and arms but are mostly easy to avoid. The smaller species though, and there are multiple Out There, are a different sensation entirely. They are like hundreds of razor blades slashing at your legs, yet you finish a ride and there is nary a mark to be seen. They leave no evidence of their torture.
Worst is when the stems get all leggy and those little spikes whip against your legs like a cat-o-nine tails. Personally, I could do without. Worse may be what native species their dominance may have pushed out, like the diminutive Charming centaury (Zeltnera venusta) perhaps:
Yellow Star Thistle - both sides and down the middle of this double track
Yellow Star Thistle - all around, and in, the meadow
"Against the rubber tongues of cows and the hoeing hands of men
Thistles spike the summer air
And crackle open under a blue-black pressure.
Every one a revengeful burst
Of resurrection, a grasped fistful
Of splintered weapons and Icelandic frost thrust up
From the underground stain of a decayed Viking
They are like pale hair and the gutturals of dialects.
Every one manages a plume of blood.
Then they grow grey like men.
Mown down, it is a feud. Their sons appear
Stiff with weapons, fighting back over the same ground."
(Ted Hughes)
haven't seen any deer in a while; there were a couple out there today
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