Milk Thistle Habitat
The milk thistle, or Silybum marianum, grows from its native Mediterranean area to hillsides and roadways in California, where it is considered invasive. Sometimes called Mary thistle or holy thistle, milk thistle is classified as an herb. Its seeds have been used for thousands of years as a medicine, especially for help with ailments of the liver. It belongs to the large Asteraceae plant family, which includes asters and sunflowers. Does this Spark an idea?
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History
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Milk thistle is native to the Mediterranean and has been cultivated throughout Europe, resulting in its naturalization. Early settlers brought it to North America, where it first began growing wild along the East Coast. It arrived on the West Coast by 1900 and is considered a weed in California. Milk thistle also grows wild in parts of South America and Australia. It can form thickets, which contribute to its classification as a nuisance weed. Milk thistle leaves have white streaks, which provided its name.
Uses of Milk Thistle
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Milk thistle seeds are used medicinally for gallbladder and liver conditions, including hepatitis and cirrhosis. The seeds are sometimes roasted and used in place of coffee. In some cultures, the flower head is eaten like an artichoke, the shoots are eaten like cabbage and the leaves are eaten like salad greens or as a cooked vegetable. It also is used to counter the effects of the death cap mushroom, or Amanita. The Food and Drug Administration has not evaluated the use of milk thistle. It is toxic to livestock.
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Habitats
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Along with other members of the thistle family, milk thistle lives in pastures with fertile soil as well as in waste areas, such as along roadsides and in ditches, from its native Europe to southern Russia and North Africa. Milk thistle requires full sunlight and thrives in areas that are open or uncluttered with other plants. It spreads rapidly because of its profusion of seeds, which are spread by birds, other animals and the wind.
How Milk Thistle Grows and Spreads
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Milk thistle can perform as an annual, winter annual or biennial, depending on its location. It normally begins its life when seeds germinate in spring or with the first fall rain. It begins life in a rosette form and then sends up a flower spike that contains more than 6,000 seeds, 94 percent of which are capable of sprouting into new plants. When the seeds drop to the ground around the parent plant, they form dense stands of thistle.
Commercial Production of Milk Thistle
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Milk thistle is grown as an ornamental plant as well as for its medicinal seeds. During early summer, flower heads are harvested for dried flower arrangements, and seeds are harvested in the fall. Nutraceuticals such as milk thistle are growing in popularity. The cultivation of such plants is being studied for their contribution to new commercial markets, which will open up jobs in farming areas and in the processing of the plants into capsules and other methods of application.
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