Milk Thistle Herb

( Western Herb )

LATIN NAME:

Silybum marianum

Milk Thistle herb is also known as St. Mary’s thistle, Holy thistle, Marian thistle, Mary thistle, and Silybin.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND INFORMATION:

Milk Thistle herb is a stout, annual or biennial plant that reaches approximately 5 to 6 feet in height.

It thrives both in the wild and in the garden. The spiny shiny leaves are dark green with scalloped edges and white spots along the vein.

The stems are toped with beautiful violet or reddish-purple flower heads composed of tiny tubular flowers. The fruits are brown-to-black with hairy tuffs.

This herb is native to the Mediterranean region and has been naturalized in North America and Australia. It thrives in dry, stony soils in fields, ditches, and roadsides.

The seeds are gathered when ripe and used in preparing the Milk Thistle herb extract. Most extracts are standardized to contain 70 to 80 percent silymarin, although preparations may vary in silymarin content.

In Europe, the herb’s components are used as a primary treatment for poisoning by the death cap mushroom. The mushroom contains a toxin that can cause fatal, irreversible liver damage.

POTENTIAL BENEFITS:

* liver protector

* fights hepatitis

* regenerates damaged liver cells

TARGET AILMENTS:

Take internally for:

* liver problems such as cirrhosis and hepatitis

* lowering cholesterol

* poisoning from ingestion of the death cap mushroom

* psoriasis

* gallstones

* iron overload

* Parkinson’s disease

PREPARATION AND DOSAGE:

Over the counter: Available in dried bilk, capsules and extracts at the health food store.

Tincture: Take 20 drops twice a day.

At home:

Infusion or Tea: Pour one cup of boiling water over 1 teaspoonful of ground seeds and let steep for 10 to 15 minutes, and drink three times a day. As an alternative to tea, eat 1 teaspoon of the freshly ground seeds.

Parts used: Fruits, seeds and leaves (whole plant)

Collection: The mature seed heads and cut and stored in a warm place. After a few days the heads are tapped and the seeds collected.

Constituents: Flavones silybin, silydianin, and silychristin, mucilage, essential oil

Actions: Cholagogue, stimulant, demulcent, antidepressant, galactagogue, liver tonic

SIDE EFFECTS:

Not serious: Milk thistle extract has virtually no side effects and can be used by most people, including women who are pregnant or nursing.