Silybum marianum - seeds

Silybum marianum or Milk Thistle is a tall, robust biennial plant, often reaching over 1m (3ft) in height, naturally found in the Mediterranean region. It forms a rosette of very prickly, dark green, shiny foliage with white marbled spots. It blooms between May and August with large solitary purple heads, with very spiny bracts. It is used in herbal medicine for its positive effects on liver function. This species thrives in sunlight and dry, acidic soils.

Silybum marianum or Milk Thistle, also known as silver thistle or wild artichoke, belongs to the asteraceae family and is the only known representative of the Silybum genus. As well as the Mediterranean region, it is also found in Southern Europe, Western Asia, North Africa, Australia, and North America. The plant first develops a evergreen rosette in winter, made up of long, spiny, grey-green leaves marbled with white, and covered in fine hairs. In the second year, tall, branched stems emerge in summer, bearing large, mauve inflorescences resembling artichoke flowers with very spiny bracts. It is relatively hardy in well-drained soil and self-seeds in a natural garden, in a large rockery, or a sunny border. The flowers are followed by numerous seeds, which easily germinate in light soil. The entire plant is edible. The main compound in the plant, silymarin, has detoxifying and hepatoprotective properties and is contained in the seeds, which are also edible.

Milk Thistle is better suited to a wild garden or natural rockery than an urban garden. It self-seeds everywhere, in the tiniest crack where its seed can find a place. It looks particularly stunning in sloping gardens on hills or mountains, alongside blue delphiniums, aconites, and pink or purple roses in moist soil, but it also pairs well with tall ornamental grasses (Panicum virgatum, Miscanthus sinensis), agapanthus, lavender and rosemary, or tall mulleins in drier gardens.