MARY THISTLE HERB OR MILK THISTLE

Description

Profile: Silybum marianum is an Asteraceae annual with lettuce-like leaves and purple flowers. The herb has been eaten and utilized for health for generations. Milk thistle seed is commonly brewed as tea in western herbalism. Powdered for tinctures or capsuled. Milk thistle is a centuries-old herb. Early on, though, all plant components were utilised. The leaves were a popular vegetable. Milk thistle promotes liver detoxification.

Details:

Silybum marianum is a three- to seven-foot-tall annual or biennial with smooth, lettuce-like leaves with white veins and spines along the margins and a solitary purple flower up to 2.5 inches in diameter. It's been farmed for centuries across the Mediterranean and southwestern Europe. Several U.S. states, including Washington, consider it a noxious weed. It belongs to the Asteraceae family, which includes lettuce (Lactuca sativa), the common daisy (Bellis perennis), the blessed thistle (Cnicus benedictus), and artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus). Many common names and the old Latin name connect to the notion that the Virgin Mary's milk poured on the plant, leaving behind its milky white'marbling'

When white cottony fibers (pappus) emerge on flower heads in May-July, harvest seeds. Dry flower heads for a week in the sun. Tumble burlap bag. Chop flower heads to remove seeds, then winnow outside.

Ancient Greece and Rome used the leaves' medicinal powers. Dioscorides mentions the seeds' usage healing snake bites and poisonous stings. Another, odd, relationship involves snakes. An old wives' tale suggested wearing milk thistle to provoke snakes. Why would somebody do this?

Nicholas Culpepper, 17th-century botanist, astrologer, physician, herbalist, and author of the Complete Herbal (1653 CE), agreed. Culpepper advocated boiling the young, fragile plant as a spring tonic or alternative. It was eaten like boiling cabbage back then (after removing the spines, of course). Artichoke-like flowerheads were also eaten. The milk thistle root was used. Milk thistle seeds were eventually used by Eclectics (physicians who used botanical treatments in the 1800s and early 1900s) to treat "liver, spleen, and renal congestion."

Each blossom can generate 190 seeds, averaging 6,350 seeds per plant. Great news for herbalists, bad news for those fighting invasive species. (weeds).

NOTICE: DO NOT USE THIS PRODUCT IF PREGNANT OR NURSING.

**These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any diseases.