Thistles are plants whose blossoms are compared to people driven by the wind. Abinadi told King Noah and his priests that they would be “as the blossoms of a thistle,” which, when fully ripe and blown by the wind, are “driven forth upon the face of the land” (Mosiah 12:12).
Jesus Christ asked, “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” while teaching that people would be known “by their fruits” (3 Nephi 14:16).