Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn. subsp. marianum Blessed milk-thistle

Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn. subsp. marianum - Blessed milk-thistle

Scientific Description:

Plants (9−)30−100 cm. Stems ribbed, sparsely villous. Leaves glabrous, pale green, mottled white along veins, strongly spiny-dentate; basal leaves obovate, petiolate, 9−26 × 5−12 cm, deeply triangular-lobed; upper ones simple, ovate-lanceolate, auriculate-amplexicaul. Involucre 2.5−4 × 2−4 cm (excl. spreading part of phyllaries); phyllaries with adpressed spiny ovate base, widening abruptly to ovate-subulate appendage, reflexed (in outer phyllaries) to erect (in inner ones); innermost phyllaries lanceolate, not appendaged. Achenes brownish streaked with black, c. 7 × 3 mm. Outer pappus hairs c. 15 mm.

Flowering time: April−May.

Habitat: Roadside banks and ditches, fallow fields, nr s.1.−600 m.

Reference:
Kupicha FK (1975). Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn., In: Davis PH (ed.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 5: 369.

Public Description:

Silybum marianum, known as “blessed milk-thistle”, naturally spreads in southern Europe and Asia, but today it has spread to many parts of the world. It is an annual or biennial plant with red to purple flowers.

The white veins on the pale green prickly leaves are characteristic for this plant and it can grow up to 1 m in length. It blooms between April and May and is found in roadside banks and ditches and fallow fields.

References:

Anonymous 1 (2017). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silybum_marianum/, Accessed date: 31.08.2017.

Anonymous 2 (2017). https://gobotany.newenglandwild.org/search/?q=silybum,Accessed date: 31.08.2017.

Ekim T (2012). Silybum Adans, In: Güner, A., Aslan, S., Ekim, T., Vural, M. & Babaç, M.T. (eds.), Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul, pp. 201.