Effect:
pain-relieving, effective for the liver and gall bladder
Areas of application:
rheumatic joint pain, hemorrhoids, gall bladder and liver problems, pain, coughs, wounds, insect bites
Parts of the plant used:
Root
Collection time:
Spring, autumn
Can be found:
On paths, rubble heaps, banks and in forest clearings.
Ingredients:
Inulin, silymarin, flavonoids, triterpenes, lkaloids, polyacetylenes
Other:
The Bull Thistle is a biennial herbaceous plant and reaches heights of 50 to 350 centimeters. The stems are upright, covered in spiderweb-like, woolly hair, usually branched in the upper part and curly, thorny and winged due to the stem leaves that run down. The leaves are arranged in a basal rosette and alternately on the stem. The basal leaves are wedge-shaped and pinnately divided with broadly egg-shaped, lobed and thorny-toothed sections. The leaf blade of the stem leaves is oval to lanceolate in outline and doubly pinnately divided and runs down the stem. The lowest leaves run down to the next lower leaf, the upper ones only run down halfway. The upper side of the leaf is prickly and stiff-haired, the underside is short-haired to white-tomentose. All pinnate sections are thorny and toothed and end in a long yellow thorn. They are undivided or two to three-lobed and unequally triangular-toothed. The flower head shaft is relatively short. The flower heads are 3 to 5 centimeters high and up to 4 centimeters in diameter. During anthesis, the flower head is almost twice as wide as the top part of the basket sheath at the height of the flowers. The basket sheath has no "wool felt". The bracts are lanceolate and end in a small, black-brown, yellow-tipped, protruding stiff thorn. The flowers are purple and 30 to 35 millimeters long. The achenes are flattened and cylindrical with a length of 3.5 to 4 millimeters. The pappus consists of long, feathery hairy rays. (Wikipedia)
In the kitchen, the flower buds can be cooked like artichokes. Young flower stalks can be cooked and eaten as a vegetable. The young leaves can be soaked in salt water overnight and then eaten cooked. The leaves can also be used in salads, but then you have to go to the trouble of removing all the thorns. Whether it's worth it is another question, the spear thistle tastes bland. The root can also be used as a vegetable.
The Bull Thistle looks similar to the field thistle and the marsh thistle.
The Bull Thistle is the national flower of Scotland.