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Herbs: Blessed Thistle - cut, organic

Common Name: Blessed thistle, holy thistle, St. Benedict’s thistle
Latin Name: Cnicus benedictus
Origin: Croatia

Short Description:

Blessed Thistle is an excellent herbal source of potassium and sodium. It is most commonly used to enrich and increase milk in nursing mothers, and to help balance female problems such as dysmenorrhea and amenorrhea. Avoid internal use during pregnancy.

Excerpts from The How to Herb Book

Blessed thistle is most commonly used to help female problems.

• Used to enrich and increase milk in nursing mothers.
• Balances female hormone problems.
• Also strengthens heart and lungs.
• Takes oxygen to the brain and strengthens memory.
• Brings circulation to every part of the body.
• A preventative of disease.

Has been used in the following:

Excerpts from Nutritional Herbology

The term “blessed” was applied centuries ago to this plant from its reputation as a cure all, a remedy even for the Black Plague of the Middle Ages.

Benedictus is from the Latin meaning blessed, which was derived from the plant’s curative properties which were considered a gift from God.

The herb has a feeble, disagreeable odor and an intensely bitter taste.

Herbalists use it as a female tonic to increase mother’s milk and treat painful menstruation.

Large doses produce an emetic and expectorant effect. Its bitter glycosides are said to stimulate appetite and act as a tonic to the digestive tract. Large doses are also said to produce a diaphoretic and general stimulant action.

In the last century, blessed thistle has received a reputation for its action on the internal organs such as the liver and kidneys. Homeopaths have touted it most highly in this regard and use a tincture to treat jaundice, hepatitis, and arthritis.

Early man believed that ingesting bitter herbs gave strength that could be used to combat illness. Physiologically, bitter herbs stimulate various organs of the body into a reflex action that triggers the glands into action, producing various effects. In blessed thistle, the organs affected are thought to be the liver and female reproductive organs.

Contains bitter compounds that decrease the thickness while increasing the production of mucosal fluids particularly in the digestive and respiratory systems. It also contains astringent compounds that are antiseptic, dilate peripheral blood vessels, and shrink inflamed tissue. Blessed thistle is an excellent herbal source of potassium and sodium. The herb has been used to treat dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, arthritis, dysura, jaundice, fevers and respiratory allergies.

From Our Reading and/or Experience...

• Avoid internally during pregnancy.
• We use it often in tincture combinations pertaining to any heart, circulatory, respiratory or female hormonal problems. Of course, it can be used in many other types of remedies. For instance, it can easily be made into powder, and used as such in capsules. Due to its bitter flavor, we normally don't use it as a main ingredient in teas.
• Blessed thistle can be used to benefit anyone: men, women (avoid internally during pregnancy), children and animals.
• It can be used as often as you would like, and in any way you choose.
• It is very critical to store blessed thistle in a dark, dry, and cool place. Refrigeration or freezing is highly recommended, but not necessary. Following these suggestions will delay the loss of its highly valued nutritional and medicinal properties.

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