Silybum marianum
HRB-0292Entry “OUR LADY’S 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 Jupiter, by Culpeper. A traditional astrological assignment, kept apart from the modern evidence; it is not a finding.
Our Lady’s Thistle is under Jupiter, and thought to be as effectual as Carduus Benedictus for agues, and to prevent and cure the infection of the plague:
It cleanses the blood exceedingly:
It provokes urine, breaks and expels the stone, and is good for the dropsy.
Our Lady’s Thistle is under Jupiter, and thought to be as effectual as Carduus Benedictus for agues, and to prevent and cure the infection of the plague:
as also to open the obstructions of the liver and spleen, and thereby is good against the jaundice.
as also to open the obstructions of the liver and spleen, and thereby is good against the jaundice.
and in Spring, if you please to boil the tender plant (but cut off the prickles, unless you have a mind to choak yourself) it will change your blood as the season changes, and that is the way to be safe.
It provokes urine, breaks and expels the stone, and is good for the dropsy.
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.