Identification Guide for Milk Thistle

Milk Thistle is an aggressive-looking plant, but with a pair of thick gloves and a little effort you can get plenty of fantastic edible stems & centres from this plant.

Common Names

Holy Thistle, Zebra Thistle, The Spikey Queen

Botanical Name

Silybum marianum

Scientific Classification

Family – Asteraceae

Physical Characteristics for Milk Thistle

This plant is easier to distinguish from other Thistles by the distinctive white veins and marks over the leaves.

A biennial – it grows eventually to between 50cm – 1m 50cm

Leaves

The leaves are oblong in shape with spines around the edge of the leaf and a bowing edge to the leaf. The leaves are hairless apart from up the leaf stem. The initial leaves grow in a rosette from a central point & when it grows larger putting up flowering shoots they grow alternate and have milky-white veins. The upper leaves clasp around the stem.

Flowers

Flowering from July to September – the flowering heads are typically sized between 4 and 12 cm. typically of equal size long and wide. They are light purple in colour.

Seeds

Seeding from August to October. The Seeds are similar to those of dandelion seeds but larger.

The umbrella eventually becomes a white puffball of seeds, which can easily be carried for dispersal by the wind.

Habitat

Often found growing on calerous soil with chalk and rocky bases.

Known Hazards

This plant has the ability to conentrate nitrogen when grown in nitrogen-rich soils and land where fertilisers are used.

Could be Confused with…

Other Thistles but don’t worry all true thistles are edible

Edible Uses

This plant has a range of different edible uses, it’s one of the species that I like to class as edible & medicinal.

Stems: Use thick gloves to run your hand up the younger stems to remove the spikey outside of the leaves and spines. The remaining shoots can be used a bit like celery stems, they work well pickled, cooked in a tempura batter, steamed, or lightly cooked.

Flowering tops can be peeled and used a bit like artichokes.

The seeds can be collected off of the hairy tops and used a bit like sunflower seeds.

Notes on Herbal Uses

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum, Asteraceae) seeds have been used for over 2000 years as remedy for several diseases especially for liver and are still used widely. The active principle extracted from the seeds is silymarin, which is a mixture of flavonolignans, silibinin (silybin) being the main component, available commercially as standardized extract. the seed extract (silymarin) and its constituents, chiefly silibinin, act as antioxidant and hepatoprotective; effective in treating toxin/xenobiotic poisoning, hepatitis, cirrhosis, and fibrosis of liver; and stimulate liver regeneration. Nevertheless, human studies regarding management of liver diseases are not much compelling. The seed has anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, lipid, and biliary effects. It also has antiviral, antitumor, and other health beneficiary properties. Preparations are safe, well-tolerated, and cause no serious adverse effects except mild gastrointestinal and allergic reactions. This seed is a very promising natural drug. More clinical research is warranted to support its wide-ranging health-promoting effects.

See references for a link to research document:

Extra notes from the Foragers

This is one of those plants you could quite easily put off picking as ‘too much effort to harvest’ however when you find a good clump – it grows in big groups, it’s well worth picking as it provides plenty of edible parts and can add a substantial side or even the main event to a dish.

References

Information on the medicinal uses

A little more information on managing it in your garden

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How to Identify Sow Thistle(Edible)

Common names
Sow thistle, hare thistle, hare’s lettuce

Botanical name
Sonchus (genus of several species)

Meaning of botanical name
An ancient Greek word meaning “hollow”, in reference to the hollow stem

Known hazards
Unclear if any recorded

Could be confused with
Groundsel, which has blunt fuzzy leaves rather than jagged spiky leaves, is a potential poisonous lookalike. Sow thistle could also be confused with Dandelions, and members of the true thistle family, Cirsium, but both of these are edible. Dandelions do not have spikes on the edges of their leaves, and true thistles have much tougher leaves.

Food plant of
Cattle, deer, and rabbits. The flowers also provides a summer nectar source for pollinators

Range and distribution
Native to Europe and Asia, though can be found in most temperate regions

Habitat
Bare ground, pavement cracks, agricultural land, and garden borders

Physical characteristics
Looks like a true thistle, but the leaves are much softer. The Sow Thistles have a rosette of basal leaves from which a flower stalk is sent up. The flowers are similar in appearance and colour to Dandelions. When the leaves are split, they exude a white sap or “latex”

Folklore, tall tales, and not so folklore:
The “milk” of the sow thistle has been used as a folk remedy for warts

Edible use
Should be eaten before flowering, after which time the plant becomes bitter. The leaves and stem can be eaten raw in salads, or steamed and used in the same way as spinach. The leaves of the basal rosette tend to have more spikes, but are generally less bitter

Herbal
It has been used for various reasons, including as a sedative, tonic, blood purifier, and hepatic, as well as a treatment for warts.
If you have a medical complaint, please see your doctor

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