Cnicus benedictus (
Blessed Thistle or
Holy Thistle), the sole species in the genus
Cnicus, is a
thistleThistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles often occur all over the plant - on surfaces such as those of the stem and flat parts of leaves. These are an adaptation that protects the...
-like plant in the family
AsteraceaeThe family Asteraceae or Compositae is the second largest family of flowering plants, in terms of number of species....
, native to the Mediterranean region, from
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
north to southern
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
and east to
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
. It is known in other parts of the world, including parts of North America, as an
introduced speciesAn introduced, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its native distributional range, which has arrived there by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
and often a noxious weed.
It is an
annual plantAn annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...
growing to 60 cm tall, with leathery, hairy
leavesIn botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin. There is continued debate about whether the flatness of leaves evolved to expose the chloroplasts to more light or to increase the absorption of carbon dioxide. In...
up to 30 cm long and 8 cm broad, with small spines on the margins.
Cnicus benedictus (
Blessed Thistle or
Holy Thistle), the sole species in the genus
Cnicus, is a
thistleThistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles often occur all over the plant - on surfaces such as those of the stem and flat parts of leaves. These are an adaptation that protects the...
-like plant in the family
AsteraceaeThe family Asteraceae or Compositae is the second largest family of flowering plants, in terms of number of species....
, native to the Mediterranean region, from
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
north to southern
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
and east to
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
. It is known in other parts of the world, including parts of North America, as an
introduced speciesAn introduced, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its native distributional range, which has arrived there by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
and often a noxious weed.
Growth
It is an
annual plantAn annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...
growing to 60 cm tall, with leathery, hairy
leavesIn botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin. There is continued debate about whether the flatness of leaves evolved to expose the chloroplasts to more light or to increase the absorption of carbon dioxide. In...
up to 30 cm long and 8 cm broad, with small spines on the margins. The
flowerA flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds...
s are yellow, produced in a dense
flowerheadAn inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
(capitulum) 3-4 cm diameter, surrounded by numerous spiny
basalBasal is a term with several scientific meanings:*A basal clade is one which forms an outgroup to a larger clade. As such the term is relative.*Basal refers to a type of insulin dosing.*The basal ganglia are a region of the brain....
bractIn botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale...
s.
The related genus
NotobasisNotobasis syriaca , syn. Cirsium syriacum, Cnicus syriacus), the sole species in the genus Notobasis, is a thistle-like plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Mediterranean region and the Middle East, from Madeira, the Canary Islands, Morocco and Portugal east to Egypt, Iran and...
is included in
Cnicus by some botanists; it differs in slender, much spinier leaves, and purple flowers.
Medicinal uses
It has sometimes been used as a
galactogogueA galactogogue is a substance which is used to increase the production of milk in humans and other animals. It may be synthetic, plant-derived, or endogenous....
to promote
lactationLactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands, the process of providing that milk to the young, and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. The process occurs in all female mammals, and in humans it is commonly referred to as breastfeeding or nursing...
. The crude drug contains about 0.2%
cnicinCnicin is a sesquiterpene lactone, esterified with a substituted acrylic acid, and belonging to the germacranolide class of natural products. It is mainly found in Cnicus , and is present in spotted knapweed plants, where highest and lowest concentrations are found in the leaves and stems...
.
It is a component in
BittersA bitters is an alcoholic beverage that contains herbal essences, has a bitter or bittersweet flavor, and is typically flavored with citrus...
formulas, which are used to treat digestive issues.
Edibility
These thistles are not considered edible, unlike
CirsiumCirsium is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the Asteraceae, one of several genera known popularly as thistles. They are more accurately known as Plume thistles. These differ from other thistle genera in having feathered hairs to their achenes...
, Arctium and
OnopordumOnopordum L. is a genus of about 40 species of thistles belonging to the family Asteraceae, native to Europe , northern Africa, the Canary Islands, the Caucasus, and southwest and central Asia...
species; the leaves are considered unpalatable if not bitter.
External links