Silybum Marianum



Blessed Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum) is a milk thistle, a plant of the Asteraceae family. It is a fairly typical thistle with red to purple flowers and shiny pale green leaves with white veins. Originally a native of Southern Europe through to Asia, it is now found throughout the world. The medicinal parts of the plant are the ripe seeds.

Uses

In herbalism, it is used in cases of liver diseases (cirrhosis, jaundice and hepatitis) and gallbladder disease, and is claimed to protect the liver against poisons