Plant Ponderings ... Milk Thistle

Plant Ponderings ... Milk Thistle
October 2009



Occasional weekend trips to our cabin in West Virginia never fail to provide inspiration for another woodland "plant pondering." I barely need to hike far before another wild weed introduces itself. I've often noticed this hardy, prickly plant, knowing its name even before studying it. I've always admired it's tenacity and bright purple flowers.


Silybum marianum is called "milk thistle" or "Marian thistle", for it's milky white veins, reputed to improve the millk supply of nursing mothers. The latin name marianum associates it with the Virgin Mary. Silybon was Dioscorides' term for this herb.
It is a tall biennial with large deeply lobed spiny leaves, with white veins and purple flowers that turn white and fluffy. Can be found in sunny areas, on dry, stony soils, in fields and roadsides. It self seeds prolifically.
The parts used are the leaves and flowering stems--dried for use in infusions or for extractions of its active principle silymarin. Medicinally it is taken as an infusion to stimulate the appetite and for digesive disorders. It contains compounds known as silymarin which are said to be effective as an antidote to toxic substances that cause liver damage.
Thanks for sharing in another plant pondering.
~Wishing you many herbal autumn blessings!