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Reference

Compendium

Ingredients for spellwork: their formal and folk names, categories, deities and forms, with the sources behind them.

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    313 ingredients

    313 ingredients

    NewCaution
    Botanical Name
    Silybum marianum

    Milk Thistle

    Milk thistle is an annual or biennial thistle of the daisy family, from about thirty centimetres to two metres tall, with shiny, spiny-edged leaves marbled with milk-white veins and large red-purple flower heads ringed by spine-tipped bracts. Its fruits are black, each with a long white plume that carries it on the wind. Native from the Mediterranean and much of Europe to Central Asia and India, it has spread far beyond that range and is treated as an invasive weed in North America, Australia and New Zealand. It is grown mainly as a medicinal crop: the seeds, botanically whole fruits, yield silymarin, and herbal tradition used the plant for liver complaints and to increase breast milk, though there is still no good clinical evidence that it helps. It was also eaten. Northcote, quoting older writers, describes the young stalks cooked like cardoon or eaten as salad, the bracts eaten like artichoke and the roots in spring, and notes that goldfinches feed on its seeds; by the doctrine of signatures its prickles made it a cure for a stitch in the side. Sometimes called Scotch thistle, it was once put forward as the thistle of Scotland. Cunningham records an Anglo-Saxon belief that milk thistle hung round a man’s neck would set every snake near him fighting.

    Caution

    Considered safe when used appropriately (AHPA safety class 1), with no known contraindications, and marked safe by Cunningham. Taken by mouth it is usually well tolerated; the commonest side effects are bloating, nausea and wind. Allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, have been reported, especially in people allergic to related plants such as ragweed, chrysanthemum, marigold and daisy. It may change blood sugar control, so people with diabetes should watch their levels closely and talk to a qualified practitioner first. Limited studies of its extract silymarin in pregnancy and while nursing found no harm, but little is known about its safety at those times. Some supplements hold far more or less silymarin than the label says, or are contaminated with pesticides, microbes or mould toxins. Anyone taking medicines should ask a healthcare provider before using it.

    Forms

    • Seed

    Correspondences

    Elements
    Fire
    Celestial Bodies
    Mars

    Folk Names

    • Blessed Milkthistle
    • Dappled Thistle
    • Lady Thistle
    • Marian Thistle
    • Mary Thistle
    • Mary's Thistle
    • Mediterranean Milk Thistle
    • Saint Mary's Thistle
    • Scotch Thistle
    • Variegated Thistle
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