White Thistle!?!

Am I crazy or is there no such thing as white thistle? I have only ever seen the purple thistle flowers in my life and today when I was hiking, high up on top a ridge I wondered over to a patch of Queen Ann's Lace (wild carrot) mixed in with butterfly covered thistle. Thing is, what I thought at first was the white of the thistle when the purple flower finishes and turns white-n- fuzzy, so it's seeds can take flight.... suddenly transformed in front my eyes when I realized the actual flowers were WHITE!
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Now.... see this pic below! That is the color thistle always is - (and that is what was growing all round the field....)

This white thistle was a loner. A rebel. Bugs were not even on it. It stood alone in it's rare majesty. I saw no other white thistle around.

I took three small seed heads with me in a baggie I had in my backpack - I would love to plant them and see if more white thistle will grow!

Tell me --- have any of ya'll ever seen white thistle (in any location, smokey mountains or otherwise?)

Xoxoxo

Rare Native Orchid: Pink Lady's Slipper

I knew when I saw this flower next to a creek behind my cabin it was something awesome... it has a presence that would have made Georgia O'Keeffe swoon with sexy flower delight! After some investigating, like asking peeps on facebook and calling friends to describe my find - " it's a pink flower on a tall stem that looks super sexual, almost like a guy's nutsack") I soon found out this was a rare endangered orchid, native to the Appalachian mountains & surrounding states.

Coooool! I have found a Pink Lady's Slipper (also known as the "moccasin flower", cause somebody thought it looked like a shoe because they couldn't admit what it really looks like)!
"The plant has two wide basal leaves that stay horizontal and a single stalk growing to about a foot high bearing the pink flower. Transplanting from the wild is strongly discouraged because of the rarity of the plant and the almost nil chances of success. New plants are difficult to start because of the need for symbiotic fungi in supping nutrients to the seed. It takes years for the new plant to develop leaves for supplying its own energy. " - briartech.com

In other words... LOOK but do NOT touch this pretty flower! Even if ya like to normally touch things that look similar to this. ;)
XoxoxoXXX