"Natural Healing with Herbs for a Healthier You"
Distribution of Milk Thistle.
The Milk thistle is a native to central and western Europe, especially close to the Mediterranean, that was introduced and naturalized in California and other parts of the United States of America. It is found mainly on dry rocky or stony soils in wastelands, especially by buildings, hedge banks, fields and by roadsides up to an altitude of around 600 metres or 2000 feet.
Description of Milk Thistle
The Milk thistle is an annual or biennial, its height is from 30 to 150 cm (1 foot to 4 feet) tall, it has a seldom branched erect stem that is prominently grooved. It has large leaves that are oblong, smooth and shiny, marked with white veins. They are also variegated and very spiny, as well as being sessile or clasping. The upper leaves clasp the stem by prickly auricles and are scarcely decurrent. The flowers are violet to purple with a thistle like hemispherical capitula up to 5 cm (2 inches) long that are usually solitary and surrounded at the base by long spiny appendages. The flowers appear in the late summer to the early fall (autumn). The fruit is an achenium and its pappus hairs are simple.
The cultivation from this wild plant is from the seed, preferable in a sunny situation with well drained soil. It is often cultivated specifically as an ornamental garden plant because of its large purple flower heads. Mrs Grieve comments " This handsome plant is not unworthy of a place in our gardens and shrubberies and was formerly frequently cultivated." (10).
