Official name: Milk Thistle

Latin name: Silybum marianum L.

Other names: silybum, milk thistle

Description: The milk thistle is a herbaceous annual or biennial plant up to 150 cm tall from the Asteraceae family with an erect massive ribbed stem and successive sessile leaves and yellowish-white spines. In Bulgaria, the plant is found in places up to 1000 m above sea level. At the top of the slightly branched stem are large single baskets with spiny leaves wrapping around a long thistle. The flowers of the milk thistle are purple-red, tubular. The fruit is a black seed with gray dots and a shiny kite. A milk thistle is not a donkey's thistle (Onopordum acanthium L.). It is so called because of the milky white liquid that comes out of its leaves when crushed. It grows in dry and sunny places. The plant blooms from May to August.

Used part of the plant: Fruit/Seed (Semen Silybi, Fructus Cardii Mariae)

Harvest time: The fruits/seeds of Silybum marianum are harvested when they are fully ripe in the months of August and September.

Content and Properties: The active ingredient in milk thistle seeds is the bioflavonoid selimarin, which has been successfully used in a number of liver and biliary diseases. Thanks to selimarin, the plant has antioxidant, antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties. The medicinal plant contains quercitin, isosilybin, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron and trace elements such as zinc, copper, selenium, boron, manganese, iodine, chromium, etc. Its composition also includes vitamins A, D, F, E, K and B vitamins, alkaloids, flavonoids, flavonolignans, proteins, resins, tyramine, histamine, fatty oil, etc.

Therapeutic action and application: The flavonoid selimarin contained in milk thistle stabilizes the cell membrane and accelerates the regeneration processes of damaged liver tissue. The plant reduces high cholesterol, normalizes blood sugar levels, has a good effect on the immune system, neutralizes lethal amounts of toxins in poisoning, stimulates the production of breast milk, helps with cancer because it stimulates protein synthesis and changes the outer layer of healthy cells, protecting them from damage and mutation. Milk thistle is a plant with many medicinal properties, therefore it is part of nutritional supplements, medicines and cosmetic products.

Possibilities to offer at the customer's request:

Vesselino Ltd. offers their customers the plant in the following varieties:

• Fruits/Seeds (Semen Silybi, Fructus Cardii Mariae) - dried whole, crushed, ground into herbal powder/flour