Cnicus benedictus
Compositae
(Holy thistle)

Parts Used: Aerial portions
Energy and Flavors: sweet,bitter,cool
Systems Affected: Liver, spleen-stomach
Biochemical Constituents: Tannin, cnicine ( a bitter principal), a sesquiterpenoid lactone, mucilage and trace of essential oil
Properties: alterative, stomachic, astringent, antiseptic, bitter, hemostatic, vulnerary.

Blessed thistle is used primarily for the stomach and liver. It treats liver congestion, loss of appetite, dyspepsia and mucus conditions. It also lowers fevers, resolves blood clots, relieves jaundice and hepatitis and stops bleeding.

Because the liver is so often affected during abnormal periods, bessed thistle is commonally used in combination with other gynecological herbs. One combination that can be used is equal parts blessed thistle, blue cohosh root, false unicorn root, cramp bark, half part ginger.

A near relative, milk thistle ( Silybum marianum), is used as a protective hepatotonic and will help to heal a damaged liver. Common artichoke leaves, another member of the thistle family, can be made into a tea to help restore the liver to normal function.

Dose: standard infussion or mild decoction
Blessed thistle is used for: liver congestion, stomach problems, loss of appetite, dyspepsia, fevers, bleeding, hepatitis and jaundice.

Habitat and range.—The blessed thistle is a weed which is found sparingly in waste places and stony, uncultivated localities from Nova Scotia to Maryland and the Southern States, also on the Pacific coast.

Description.—This plant, which scarcely exceeds 2 feet in height, has a coarse, erect, branched, and rather woolly stem. The leaves are 3 to 6 inches long, more or less hairy, with margins lobed and spiny. The yellow flower heads which appear from about May to August are borne at the ends of the branches, almost hidden by the upper leaves, and are about 1 1/2 inches long. Surrounding the flower heads are leathery scales, tipped with long, branching, yellowish-red spines. The herb has a rather disagreeable odor which is lost in drying.

Part used.—The leaves and leafy flowering tops, gathered preferably just before or during the flowering period.