Silymarin.Milk Thistle and applications.

Contents

• Botanical Basic Data of Milk Thistle.
• Phytochemicals of milk thistle.
• History of Silymarin and foundation.
• Modern Application and function of Silymarin and silybin.
• Dosage and Administration.
• Milk Thistle:Pharmacology.
• The Awesome Power of the Milk Thistle.
• How Search engine think about Milk Thistle.
• Research Update of Silybum Marianum.Silymarin
• Photo Gallery of Silybum marianum.

Botanical Basic Data of Milk Thistle.:

 Class: Magnoliopsida.Order: Asterales
 Family: Asteraceae.Subfamily: Lactucoideae
 Tribe: Cardueae.Genus: Silybum
 Scientific Name:Carduus marianus syn. Silybum marianum
 Botanical Source:Carduus marianus syn. Silybum marianum
 Latin Name: Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertner,Silybum marianum
 Pharmacopeial Name: Cardui mariae fructus

 Other Names: blessed milk thistle, St. Mary thistle,Cardui mariae, Carduus marianum, Holy Thistle, Lady's Thistle, Legalon, Marian Thistle, Mariendistel, Mary Thistle, Our Lady's Thistle, Silimarina, Silybin, Silymarin, St. Mary Thistle,Cardui mariae, Carduus marianum, Holy Thistle, Lady's Thistle, Legalon, Marian Thistle, Mariendistel, Mary Thistle, Our Lady's Thistle, Silimarina, Silybin, Silybum, Silymarin, St. Mary Thistle, Wild Artichoke
 
 Botanical Synonyms and Common names:Milk Thistle,Mary Thistle,Silybum,Silymarin,Silybum marianum (L) Gacntm

 Description:Milk thistle, also known as the Marian, St. Mary's, or Our Lady's thistle, is a tall herb with prickly leaves and a milky sap. Milk thistle is native to the Mediterranean region of Europe but naturalized in California and the eastern United States. Botanically, milk thistle is known as Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn., a member of the family Asteraceae. In older literature, as well as some modem European works, it is cited as Carduus marianus L.. Over the years, several other plants have been referred to as milk thistles, but authorities now reserve that common name for this species. Also, it must not be confused with the blessed or holy thistle, which is Cnicus benedictus L., an entirely different plant, although the similarity of the religiously inspired common names is confusing.

Habitat and Genus of milk thistle members:

 Native to the Mediterranean, grows wild throughout Europe and is widely naturalized in California and Australia. Milk thistle thrives in open areas. Also cultivated as an ornamental plant, milk thistle prefers a sunny position and self-seeds readily. The flower heads are picked in full bloom in early summer. Seeds are collected in late summer.

 Milk thistle fruit consists of ripe seed of S. marianum (L.) Gaertner [Fam. Asteraceae], freed from the pappus, and its preparations in effective dosage. The preparation contains silibinin, silydianin, and silychristin.

 Milk Thistle seeds were consumed by European wet nurses to insure a healthy milk supply. The heads of this Thistle formerly were eaten, boiled, treated like those of the Artichoke. Milk Thistle seeds help stimulate protein synthesis in the liver. They even can help reverse the damage done from eating poisonous mushrooms or from carbon tetrachloride, which destroy liver cells and usually cause death. When Milk Thistle seeds are used within 48 hours, the survival rate is almost 100%. When fed to animals that had partial hepatectomies, their livers grew back more quickly. Milk Thistle is a good supplement to use to protect the liver when needing to take pharmaceutical drugs.
 

 Milk thistles are thistles of the genus Silybum Adans., flowering plants of the daisy family (Asteraceae). They are native to the Mediterranean regions of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

 Members of this genus grow as annual or biennial plants. The erect stem is tall, branched and furrowed but not spiny. The large, alternate leaves are waxy-lobed, toothed and thorny, as in other genera of thistle. The lower leaves are cauline (= attached to the stem without petiole). The upper leaves have a clasping base. They have large, disc-shaped pink-to-purple, rarely white, solitary flower heads at the end of the stem. The flowers consist of tubular florets. The phyllaries under the flowers occur in many rows, with the outer row with spine-tipped lobes and apical spines. The fruit is a black achene with a white pappus.

Only two species are currently classified in this genus:

 Silybum eburneum Coss.Dur., known as the Silver Milk Thistle, Elephant Thistle, or Ivory Thistle Silybum eburneum Coss. Dur. var. hispanicum
 Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertner, the Blessed Milk Thistle, which has a large number of other common names, such as Variegated Thistle.
 A number of other plants have been classified in this genus in the past but have since been relocated elsewhere in the light of additional research.
 S. marianum is by far the more widely known species. It is believed to give some remedy for liver diseases(e.g. viral hepatitis) and an extract, silymarin, is used in medicine. The adverse effect of the medicinal use of milk thistle is loose stools.

Reference:

• Silymarin.Milk Thistle and applications.

This article written and edited via herbalist of MDidea Extracts Professional. They run a range of online descriptions about this herb,including general information related and summarized updating discoveries from findings of professional scientisits this field related.Describe style aimed to form a useful detecting literature space where the intertwined threshold and related questions raise out and visualize themselves.

♣ last edit date:08th,Oct.2010.