The Legend of Thistle

It is said that the thistle became the savior of the Scottish in a time when Vikings where invading land and plundering villages. During one dark and silent night, the Vikings were preparing for battle while the Scottish lay resting under a starlit sky. To approach the Scots, without raising alarm and forewarning of their arrival, they chose to take off their shoes so that they could quietly move across the land.
Unfortunately, they did not know that the fields were home to thistles and when the Vikings stepped on the thistles the tough spikes of the thistles bore deep into their feet, causing the men to cry out in pain and agony. Of course these cries awoke the sleeping Scottish, who were able to fight off the advancing Vikings without much of a battle. Being saved from the Vikings by the thistles is definitely a good enough reason to make the plant , after that moment known as the "Guardian Thistle."
In 1470, James III issued silver coins with the first use of the Thistle as a royal symbol of Scotland.
The Order of the Thistle was founded in 1540 by King James V. He made the order for himself and his twelve knights. The badge, worn by the knights, is a cross surmounted by a star of four silver points, over them a green circle bordered and lettered in gold.The lettering contains the motto:
"Nemo me impune lacessit".