The flowers are favorites of Tiger Swallowtails, an occasional Silver Spangled Fritillary, and of course our humming bird love them. Cardoon leaf stalks, which look like giant celery stalks, can be served steamed or braised, and have an artichoke-like flavour with a hint of bitterness. Thanks for the info about eating thistle. Copyright 2007-2018 – This web page is the property of Green Deane, LLC. The plant also grows fibrous as it ages — why we don’t eat older stalks — and can be used for cordage. Kidney and Liver Disease. Before the French Revolution, a large part of the region formed the Duchy of Lorraine. These prickles are an adaptation that protects the plant from being eaten by herbivores. Thanks for any input. If so, is there an easy way to do this with a lot of seeds? Thank you for this information. Juice it. I have star thistle and I’m like don’t know what to do..please help! Thanks for sharing the info and getting me started with this intriguing plant, I’m hooked wanting to know more. But, the reward is edible stalks, edible leaves —trimmed of spines — roots and unopened flower bud bottoms. Very spiny, one tough plant. We have a Varegated Milk Thislte or Thor’s Thislte growing, it is very large and beautiful, is there a place on this web site to send photos of it. Think of it this way. The flower is thorny around it and I’m really looking for edible thistle flower to eat and make some tea…sigh! Watt, John Mitchell; Breyer-Brandwijk, Maria Gerdina: The Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of Southern and Eastern Africa 2nd ed Pub. Thank you. Milk Thistle Protects Your Liver. It can help prevent elevation of liver enzymes, which can be a side effect of the medication. Buon appetito! [3] However, plants outside this tribe are sometimes called thistles, and when this is done, "thistles" would form a polyphyletic group. Foraging should never begin without the guidance and approval of a local plant specialist. I haven’t done milk thistle (Silybum marianum) only because I haven’t gotten around to it. [11][12][13], Other thistles that nominally are weeds are important honey plants, both as bee fodder in general, and as sources of luxury monofloral honey products.[7][14][15]. Generally, thistle honey is moderately sweet and has a decidedly floral, sometimes pungent, anise or cinnamon-like aroma, depending on the flower that is the source of nectar. They were about a foot or two tall with big yellow or bright pink/purple flowers and very thorny leaves. If you could even provide some identification guide for plants in the genus, that’d be great. Tarentaise is a unique American farmstead cheese which reflects the Terroir of Pomfret Vermont and Thistle Hill Farm. Some reports say they like wet areas but that certainly is not the case here in Florida. Typically, an involucre with a clasping shape similar to a cup or urn subtends each of a thistle's flowerheads. Biennial thistles are particularly noteworthy for their high wildlife value, producing such things as copious floral resources for pollinators, nourishing seeds for birds like the goldfinch, foliage for butterfly larvae, and down for the lining of birds' nests.[4][5][6]. Best to make ones own teas. I’m like scared to do that and like really the thorns are gone. Anyone ever eaten the leaves cooked like greens? Prickly yet pretty, milk thistle is a plant with a long, thin stem, spiny leaves, and a purplish-pink thistle at the top. Looks like it is Bull Thistle. Another species, called the Acanthum vulgare, produces above 100 heads, each containing from 3 to 400 seeds. The leaves are still edible if you strip them of spines as are the bottom of the flower buds, though the bud bottoms aren’t much more than a nibble. Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. I have several in our fields. I would like to look at your thistle garden. In fact, it has an edible stem. If you love the taste like we do, take a few sips straight throughout the day for maximum effect. Perfect Press ® Milk Thistle Oil has a smooth, malty taste. Is anyone interested in being paid for wild collection? What about Distaff Thistle (Carthamus lanatus)? The first year the plant is just a root and a rosette, the second year it sends up a stem and blossoms. Thistle Hill Farm Farmstead Tarentaise is an aged alpine raw milk organic cheese handmade by John and Janine Putnam on their family farm in North Pomfret, Vermont from the certified organic milk of their grass-fed Jersey cows. I sat down and pulled them out and wondered if they were poisonous. Thistle Root Thistles will resprout readily if cut down, so it’s best to dig the whole plant up by the root. So much good information!! I am surprised that no one has mentioned the CRITICAL role thistle plays in goldfinch reproduction . (Also, on something almost completely unrelated, it’s a cute linguistic and conceptual hop from kirsos, varicose veins, to kissos, which means ivy.). ENVIRONMENT: Sandy open areas, moist or dry, old fields, roadsides, often the only plant still untouched in closely cropped pastures. I did notice that the Blue Orchard Mason Bees really like the thistle plant! Similarly, the same is true for our pets! I live in NC and I have been pondering a harvest of some thistle. Beside the Tudor rose and Irish shamrock the thistle appears on the badge of the Yeomen of the Guard and the arms of the Canada Company. (Or roast whole by a fire and squeeze the cooked core out.). The comparative amount of spininess varies dramatically by species. Additionally, hummingbirds will feed on the flowers of the biennial species (which feature large flowers, as compared with the perennial Canada thistle). I forgot to say we stew the stalks of milk thistle. If you are in Florida and on the west coast you might see Cirsium nuttallii, which is tall and skinny with many branches. Then you can eat it raw or cooked, I prefer cooked. For that reason, they breed late in the summer, waiting for the fluff. I am of Acadian descent and heritage. I live on the East coast of Australia in a sub- tropical zone and I Found wild Scottish thistle today on my walk, will collect tomorrow for “tea” and ” greens” many thanks, feel comfortable after reading all the postings and appreciate everyone’s contributions! The tips go right into my skin and i ’ ve done twice... Great tinder eatin, anyone know anything about that add a bit stevia... Are outlawed to grow/possess edible parts and eventually popped the rest of the thistle is sold as oral... 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