Cow-thistle

Herb. [See COW sb.¹ 9.] A name applied by early herbalists to a common species of thistle, Carduus lanceolatus or C. palustris.

  Later writers sometimes use the word as a synonym of Sow-thistle, and esp. of Sonchus alpinus (Mulgedium) the Blue Alpine Sow-thistle.

1565–73.  Cooper, Thesaurus, Scolymos … Some take it to be Cowthistle.

1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, IV. lxxi. 535. Cooper calleth this [Wild Thistle] Wild Artichoke and Cowthistel.

1605.  Breton, I pray you, Wks. (1879), II. 6/1 (D.). Bridle it in her countenance like a Mare that were knapping on a Cow-thistle.

1832.  Veg. Subst. Food, 191. The Cow-Thistle (Sonchus alpinus) … grows spontaneously in Northumberland…. The stem, which is milky, is peeled and eaten raw by the Laplanders.