Sonchus oleraceus
HRB-0278Entry “SOW THISTLE” in the 1850 textIn Culpeper’s 1652 first edition
Old claims, quoted verbatim: not medical advice. A warning sits above the claims and never hides them; no warning does not mean safe, only that no source here has flagged the plant.
Historical correspondence. Ruled by Venus, by Culpeper. A traditional astrological assignment, kept apart from the modern evidence; it is not a finding.
The juice boiled or thoroughly heated in a little oil of bitter almonds in the peel of a pomegranate, and dropped into the ears, is a sure remedy for deafness, singings, &c.
Pliny saith, That it hath caused the gravel and stone to be voided by urine, and that the eating thereof helps a stinking breath.
The juice or distilled water is good for all hot inflammations, wheals, and eruptions or heat in the skin, itching of the hæmorrhoids.
Sow Thistles are cooling, and somewhat binding, and are very fit to cool a hot stomach, and ease the pains thereof.
Pliny saith, That it hath caused the gravel and stone to be voided by urine, and that the eating thereof helps a stinking breath.
The herb boiled in wine, is very helpful to stay the dissolution of the stomach, and the milk that is taken from the stalks when they are broken, given in drink, is beneficial to those that are short winded, and have a wheezing.
Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, a new edition (London: Thomas Kelly, 1850). Project Gutenberg eBook #49513. SRC-CUL-1850
Quotations are verbatim from the 1850 text, line breaks joined. Modern research and the European regulator’s verdict on each claim are on the Concordance page, kept apart from this historical record.