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 | Thistle (Holy) Other Names: Blessed Thistle. Cnicus benedictus. Carduus benedictus
Botanical Name: Carbenia benedicta
Family: N.O. Compositae |
Description: |
| The stem of the Blessed Thistle grows about 2 feet high, is reddish, slender, very much branched and scarcely able to keep upright under the weight of its leaves and flowerheads. The leaves are long, narrow, clasping the dull green stem, with prominent pale veins, the irregular teeth of the wavy margin ending in spines. The flowers are pale yellow, in green prickly heads, each scale of the involucre, or covering of the head, ending also in a long, brown bristle. The whole plant, leaves, stalks and also the flowerheads, are covered with a thin down. It grows more compactly in some soils than in others. |
History: |
A Thistle, however, that has been cultivated for several centuries in this country for its medicinal use is known as the Blessed or Holy Thistle. It is a handsome annual, a native of Southern Europe, occurring there in waste, stony, uncultivated places, but it grows more readily in England in cultivation.
It is said to have obtained its name from its high reputation as a heal-all, being supposed even to cure the plague. It is mentioned in all the treatises on the Plague, and especially by Thomas Brasbridge, who in 1578 published his Poore Man's Jewell, that is to say, a Treatise of the Pestilence, unto which is annexed a declaration of the vertues of the Hearbes Carduus Benedictus and Angelica. Shakespeare in Much Ado about Nothing, says: 'Get you some of this distilled Carduus Benedictus and lay it to your heart; it is the only thing for a qualm.... I mean plain Holy Thistle.' The 'distilled' leaves, it says 'helpeth the hart,' 'expelleth all poyson taken in at the mouth and other corruption that doth hurt and annoye the hart,' and 'the juice of it is outwardly applied to the bodie' ('lay it to your heart,' Sh.), 'therefore I counsell all that have Gardens to nourish it, that they may have it always to their own use, and the use of their neighbours that lacke it.'
It has sometimes been stated that the herb was first cultivated by Gerard in 1597, but as this book was published twenty years previously it would appear to have been in cultivation much earlier, and in fact it is described and its virtues enumerated in the Herbal of Turner in 1568. |
Cultivation: |
Being an annual, Blessed Thistle is propagated by seed. It thrives in any ordinary soil. Allow 2 feet each way when thinning out the seedlings. Though occurring sometimes in waste places in England as an escape from cultivation, it cannot be considered indigenous to this country. The seeds are usually sown in spring, but if the newly-ripened seeds are sown in September or October in sheltered situations, it is possible to have supplies of the herb green, both summer and winter.
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Constituents: |
| Blessed Thistle contains a volatile oil, and a bitter, crystallineneutral body called Cnicin (soluble in alcohol and slightly also in water) which is said to be analogous to salicin in its properties. |
Medicinal Usage: |
Tonic, stimulant, diaphoretic, emetic and emmenagogue. In large doses, Blessed Thistle acts as a strong emetic, producing vomiting with little pain and inconvenience. Cold infusions in smaller draughts are valuable in weak and debilitated conditions of the stomach, and as a tonic, creating appetite and preventing sickness. The warm infusion - 1 OZ. of the dried herb to a pint of boiling water - in doses of a wineglassful, forms in intermittent fevers one of the most useful diaphoretics to which employment can be given. The plant was at one time supposed to possess very great virtues against fevers of all kinds.
Fluid extract, 1/2 to 1 drachm.
It is said to have great power in the purification and circulation of the blood, and on this account strengthens the brain and the memory.
The leaves, dried and powdered, are good for worms.
It is chiefly used now for nursing mothers the warm infusion scarcely ever failing to procure a proper supply of milk. It is considered one of the best medicines which can be used for the purpose.
Turner (1568) says:
'It is very good for the headache and the megram, for the use of the juice or powder of the leaves, preserveth and keepeth a man from the headache, and healeth it being present. It is good for any ache in the body and strengtheneth the members of the whole body, and fasteneth loose sinews and weak. It is also good for the dropsy. It helpeth the memory and amendeth thick hearing. The leaves provoke sweat. There is nothing better for the canker and old rotten and festering sores than the leaves, juice, broth, powder and water of Carduus benedictus.'
Culpepper (1652) writes of it:
'It is a herb of Mars, and under the Sign Aries. It helps swimmings and giddiness in the head, or the disease called vertigo, because Aries is the House of Mars. It is an excellent remedy against yellow jaundice and other infirmities of the gall, because Mars governs choller. It strengthens the attractive faculty in man, and clarifies the blood, because the one is ruled by Mars. The continual drinking the decoction of it helps red faces, tetters and ringworm, because Mars causeth them. It helps plague-sores, boils and itch, the bitings of mad dogs and venomous beasts, all which infirmities are under Mars. Thus you see what it doth by sympathy.
'By Antypathy to other Planets: it cures the French Pox by Antypathy to Venus who governs it. It strengthens the memory and cures deafness by Antypathv to Saturn, who hath his fall in Aries which Rules the Head. It cures Quarten Agues and other diseases of Melancholy, and a dust Choller by Sympathy to Saturn, Mars being exalted in Capricorn. Also it provokes Urine, the stopping of which is usually caused by Mars or the Moon.'
Mattheolus and Fuschius wrote also of Carduus benedictus:
'It is a plant of great virtue; it helpeth inwardly and outwardly; it strengthens all the principal members of the body, as the brain, the heart, the stomach, the liver, the lungs and the kidney; it is also a preservative against all disease, for it causes perspiration, by which the body is purged of much corruption, such as breedeth diseases; it expelleth the venom of infection; it consumes and wastes away all bad humours; therefore, give God thanks for his goodness, Who hath given this herb and all others for the benefit of our health.'
Four different ways of using Blessed Thistle have been recommended: It may be eaten in the green leaf, with bread and butter for breakfast, like Watercress; the dried leaves may be made into a powder and a drachm taken in wine or otherwise every day; a wineglassful of the juice may be taken every day, or, which is the usual and the best method, an infusion may be made of the dried herb, taken any time as a preventive, or when intended to remove disease, at bed time, as it causes copious perspiration.
Many of the other Thistles may be used as substitutes for the Blessed Thistle. The seeds of the Milk Thistle (Carduus Marianus), known also as Silybum Marianum, have similar properties and uses, and the Cotton Thistle, Melancholy Thistle, etc., have also been employed for like purposes. |
Ancient Lore: |
CARDUUS BENEDICTUS
CNICUS BENEDICTUS (= CARBENIA BENEDICTA)
Everyone who can write at all may describe them from his own knowledge.
Better known today as Blessed Thistle or Holy Thistle, it is an annual plant growing to a little over a foot (30 cm) with greyish-green leaves, brittle and spiny. The yellow flowerheads are about an inch (25 mm) long.
Where to find it: It grows in coastal regions, but is also cultivated for pharmaceutical purposes.Flowering time: From early to late summer.
Astrology: A herb of Mars under the sign of Aries.
Medicinal virtues: It helps giddiness. and swimming of the head, or the disease called vertigo. It is an excellent remedy against the yellow jaundice and other infirmities of the gall. It clarifies the blood. Continually drinking the decoction helps red faces, tetters and ring- wornis. It helps the plague, sores, boils and itch, the bitings of mad dogs and venomous beasts. It cureth the French pox, strengthens the memory and cures deafness. It cures melancholy and provokes urine.
Modern uses: Holy Thistle is still an important medicinal herb. It is mainly used as a tonic, but it also produces sweating and is therefore of use in treating fevers. It stimulates menstruation and is helpful for headaches and migraine. Small doses only are given as the herb is emetic. Overdosing can also cause diarrhoea. An infusion is made from the whole herb - 1 OZ (28 g) to I Pt (568 mi) of boiling water - and administered in doses of 2 fl Oz (56 mi). Where there is inflammation, the remedy is used in combination with Elderflowers, and Peppermint with a small amount of Ginger or Capsicum. The cold infusion is best for dyspepsia or anorexia, while the warm infusion is best for colds, fevers and backache. Homeopaths use a tincture to treat arthritis. |
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