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Milk thistle

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Plants

               iMilk Thistle
   Silybum marianum
   Silybum marianum
         Scientific classification

   Kingdom:   Plantae
   Division:  Magnoliophyta
   Class:     Magnoliopsida
   Order:     Asterales
   Family:    Asteraceae
   Subfamily: Lactucoideae
   Tribe:     Cardueae
   Genus:     Silybum
              Adans.

                                   Species

     * Silybum eburneum
     * Silybum marianum
     * Silybum × gonzaloi

   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.
   Thistle Flower
   Enlarge
   Thistle Flower

   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.

   The two species hybridise naturally, the hybrid being known as Silybum
   × gonzaloi Cantó , Sánchez Mata & Rivas Mart. (S. eburneum var.
   hispanicum x S. marianum)

   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.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_thistle"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
