1
any thorny or prickly plant (in Od. 5.328 (pl.) prob. Eryngium campestre), S. Fr. 718, Eub. 107.19, Theoc. 1.132, etc.: prov., οὐ γὰρ ἄκανθαι no thistles, i.e. ‘an easy job’, Ar. Fr. 272, 483:—special kinds: ἄ. Ἀραβική smaller milk-thistle, Notobasis syriaca, Dsc. 3.13; ἄ. βασιλική fish-thistle, Cnicus Acarna, Thphr. CP 1.10.5; ἄ. Ἰνδική, = Balsamodendron Mukul, Id. HP 9.1.2; ἄ. λευκή Acacia albida, ib. 4.2.8; = ἄ. βασιλική, Dsc. 3.12; ἄ. λευκὴ τρίοζος, = Euphorbia antiquorum, Thphr. HP 4.4.12; ἄ. ἀκανώδης (prob.) corn-thistle, Carduus arvensis, ib. 10.6.
bramble, Rubus ulmifolius, Od. 24.230, Aen. Tact. 28.6, Theoc. 1.132; ὁ, Hp. Mul. 2.112, Ar. Fr. 754 ( Att. acc. to Moeris), Thphr. HP 1.5.3, LXX Ex. 3.2: whence ἐπὶ τοῦ (v.l. τῆς) βάτου in Ev.Marc. 12.26: fem., Dsc. 4.37, Ev.Luc. 20.37.