Silybum marianum
species of plant of genus Silybum in family Asteraceae
Silybum marianum is a species of thistle. It has various common names including milk thistle, blessed milkthistle, Marian thistle, Mary thistle, Saint Mary's thistle, Mediterranean milk thistle, variegated thistle and Scotch thistle (not to be confused with Onopordum acanthium or Cirsium vulgare). This species is an annual or biennial plant of the family Asteraceae. This fairly typical thistle has red to purple flowers and shiny pale green leaves with white veins. Once native from Southern Europe through Asia, it has spread throughout the world.
Description
Milk thistle is an upright herb that can grow to be 30 to 200 cm (12 to 79 in) tall and has an overall conical shape. The approximate maximum base diameter is 160 cm (63 in). The stem is grooved and may be covered in a light cottony fuzz. The largest specimens have hollow stems.
The leaves are oblong to lanceolate and 15–60 cm (6–23+1⁄2 in) long and typically pinnately lobed, with spiny edges like most thistles.
“Silybum marianum” enters the record as species of plant of genus Silybum in family Asteraceae. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Silybum, marianum and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Silybum marianum” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Silybum, marianum and species provides the most credible route into that argument.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q193798. The Library of Congress control number is sh97008688. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Silybum marianum” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.