Business Opportunities in Agriculture: 150 Field Interviews (Book)

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) Cultivation India {Seeds Available}

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Silybum marianum has other common names include cardus marianus, milk thistle, blessed milk thistle, Marian Thistle, Mary Thistle, Saint Mary's Thistle, Mediterranean milk thistle, variegated thistle and Scotch thistle. This species is an annual or biannual plant of the Asteraceae family. This fairly typical thistle has red to purple flowers and shiny pale green leaves with white veins.

[video=youtube_share;MLSHOdlmOuE]http://youtu.be/MLSHOdlmOuE[/video]

It grows 30 to 200 cm tall, having an overall conical shape with an approx. 160 cm max. diameter base. The stem is grooved and more or less cottony. With the largest specimens the stem is hollow.
The leaves are oblong to lanceolate. They are either lobate or pinnate, with spiny edges. They are hairless, shiny green, with milk-white veins.
The flower heads are 4 to 12 cm long and wide, of red-purple colour. They flower from June to August in the North or December to February in the Southern Hemisphere ( Summer through Autumn ).
The bracts are hairless, with triangular, spine-edged appendages, tipped with a stout yellow spine.
The achenes are black, with a simple long white pappus, surrounded by a yellow basal ring

Its potent extract is used in medicine under the name silymarin (a flavonolignane complex consisting of silibinin A and B/silybin/silymarin I, isosilibinin A and B, silicristin/silymarin II, silidianin). Silibinin is used against poisoning by amanitas, such as the Death Cap (Amanita phalloides) as well as in cerebral edema and acute hepatitis therapy.
 

Business Opportunities in Agriculture: 150 Field Interviews (Book)

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