Milk Thistle Extract

Specifications

Lactuca serriola, also called prickly lettuce, milk thistle, compass plant, and scarole, is an annual or biennial plant, slightly foetid, that is commonly considered a weed of orchards, roadsides and field crops. The closest wild relative of cultivated lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.).. The leaves grow along a spiny stem and get progressively smaller as they reach its top. They emit latex when cut. Many flowers are produced and usually appear in the upper part of the plant.

The plant can be eaten as a salad, although it has something of a bitter taste. Young leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. However, its presence in some ancient deposits has been linked more to its soporific properties which might suggest ritual use. The Ancient Greeks also believed its pungent juice to be a remedy against eye ulcers and Pythagoreans called the lettuce eunuch because it caused urination and relaxed sexual desire. The Navajo used the plant as a ceremonial emetic. In the island of Crete in Greece the leaves and the tender shoots of a variety called maroula or agriomaroulo  are eaten boiled.