10 Graines Chardon-Marie, Silybum marianum

Charton-marie, Notre-Dame thistle, Silybum Marianum |

Chardon- Marie (Silybum Marianum) is a kind of plants from the family of Asteraceae (or compounds), the only known representative of the genus Silybum (Some authors, however, mention a second species, SILYBUM EBURNEUM).

10 Seeds

Silybum Marianum is easily recognizable by its bright and thorny green leaves marbled with white.

Charmon-Marie particularly likes dry and sunny places, often on soil Acid. Very frequent on the Mediterranean periphery, it is practically absent in the north of the Loire (with the exception of the Atlantic coasts^[Où ?]) and does not exceed 700 m in principle. altitude. It can also be in southern Europe, Western Asia, North Africa, Australia and North America.

The term SILYBUM designated in Latin and in Greek (Silybon and Sillybon) A edible thistle1.

The qualifier Marianum is linked to Virgin Mary : a legend wants this one, traveling from Judea to Egypt to escape Hérode, would have hidden theChild Jesus under a grove of Chardons, where she would have given him the breast. A few drops of her milk fell on the leaves, hence the white veins characteristic of this species. This legend may also be the source of a traditional indication whose effectiveness has never been demonstrated and which wanted the plant to promote lactation under the Theory of the Signatures.

Biennial plant, robust, large, most often exceeding 1 m, with unbeaned stem. The root is swivel, long, thick, fibrous and the stem is cylindrical, robust, often rowing.

Its large Alternate leaves Alternate without stipulament are brilliant pale green, pennatilobed and wavy, and are bordered by hard -to -tip thorny teeth with very sharp yellow point. Those of the base are petiolate, in rosette, very large (up to 40 CM). The superiors are smaller and narrower, engaging. All have many white ribs with the obverse, giving the impression that the sheet is macular with milk.

In summer, the capitules, often lonely, can also be grouped in Racèmes. They are surrounded by large Bracts curved, at very sharp ends, each bracts itself having a perimeter of small thorns. The Fleurons, all tubed and five Lobes, are purplish purple in color. The fruits are AKENES shiny and tablets, black or marbled with yellow, surmounted by an egret denticulated in the ring at their base. They look like sunflower seeds. Flowering at the end of spring, between May and August.

In XIX^e century, doctors of the American eclectic school used it to treat varicose veins, menstrual disorders and congestion of liver, gallbladder and kidneys. In Europe, there are nowadays in several pharmaceutical preparations intended for the treatment of various liver and biliary disorders3,4.

In 1968, I isolated from the plant a complex Flavonoid (mainly composed of Silybine, Silychristine and Silydianine) to which was given the name of Sonymarine and which has since been considered the active substance responsible for the therapeutic effects of thistle-marie. Silymarine is found in all parts of the plant, but it is particularly concentrated in the ripe seeds used crushed in infusion or powder. In most clinical trials, standardized extract containing 70 % to 80 % of Silymarine. The extracts from Chardon-Marie have been the subject of very numerous clinical studies, in particular the Legalon product, manufactured by a German company. The use of a pharmaceutical specialty based on thistle-marie is reserved for the symptomatic treatment of intoxication byPhalloid AMANITE.

Contents subject to the CC-BY-SA license 3.0. Source : Article Chardon-Marie by Wikipedia in French (Authors)