The Japanese have a word for thistle (azami) so it is seemingly not a species of plant un-encountered in Japan.. but I am increasingly seeing them in places where I live, walk or look.. pretty much exclusively.. which leads me to a pretty indisputable hypothesis..

Scots through some evolutionary genetic mutation, exude some sort of thistle, plant equivalent of spores.. and my understanding of international constitutional laws leads me to believe that land upon which thistles witnessed by Scots, and therefore presumably sown and breathed life within from those Scots, is automatically Scottish..

.. I should note that I have not spotted any roses around here..

.. anyway, thanks for coming to my TED talk on how we move Scotland further away from her Tory overlords beyond her Southern border.