Whether or not the story is true, the symbolism of the thistle (ahem, sorry for the pun) took root and is honored to this day. Other facts about the thistle include that it is a biennial plant, meaning it takes two years to complete its life cycle. It reseeds easily. It's a combination of beauty and ruggedness. It has a spreading, invasive root system, hence its classification as weed.
imprinted gene, a gene whose expression has been affected by genomic imprinting so that only a single allele functions, the other being turned off by epigenetic mechanisms during embryonic development.
Definition of imprint. 1  transitive verb. 2  1 : to mark by or as if by pressure : impress. 3  2a : to fix indelibly or permanently (as on the memory)b : to subject to or induce by imprinting an imprinted preference. 4  intransitive verb. : 5  to undergo imprinting.