Silybum marianum 

'Milk Thistle'

Asteraceae: an annual or biennial to 1.2 m (4ft). Found in waste places, usually close to the sea, especially if the ground is dry and rocky. The flowers are 4cm or more across, and are red-purple, flowering from June-August. The leaves are oblong to lanceolate. They are either lobate or pinnate, with spiny edges, very sharp spiny edges. They are hairless, shiny green, with milk-white veins. Native to Southern Europe, North Africa and Western Asia. Also naturalized in Britain.

USES:

The root can be eaten raw or cooked, they have a mild flavour and somewhat mucilaginous texture. When boiled, the roots resemble salsify (Tragopogon hispanicus). The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked, the very sharp leaf-spines must be removed first, which is quite a fiddly operation. The leaves are quite thick and have a mild flavour when young, at this time they are quite an acceptable ingredient of mixed salads, though they can become bitter in hot dry weather. When cooked they make an acceptable spinach substitute. It is possible to have leaves available all year round from successional sowings. Flower buds can also be cooked, and used as a globe artichoke substitute.

Blessed thistle has a long history of use in the West as a remedy for depression and liver problems. Recent research has confirmed that it has a remarkable ability to protect the liver from damage resulting from alcoholic and other types of poisoning. The whole plant has astringent, bitter, cholagogue, diaphoretic, diuretic, emetic, emmenagogue, hepatic, stimulant, stomachic and tonic properties.

GROWING INFORMATION:

Succeeds in any well-drained fertile garden soil. Prefers a calcareous soil and a sunny position. Very pretty. Sow seeds in situ during March or April, the plant will usually flower in the summer and complete its life cycle in one growing season. Alternatively seed can also be sown from May to August when the plant will normally wait until the following year to flower and thus behave as a biennial. Very easy.

Warning: this plant has some of the sharpest spines that I have ever come across on a thistle, so don’t plant them next to a footpath like I did.

HARVESTED: 2019

 
APPROX. 45+ SEEDS