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SOW-THISTLE TREE (Marsh) SONCHUS PALUSTRIS The milk takenfrom the stalks is beneficialfor those who are short-winded. This is a giant Thistle growing to about eight feet (2.4 m) high. The leaves are soft and tender and shaped like arrow-heads at their base. The numerous light yellow flowers stand in a broad clustering head. Also called the Marsh Sow-thistle. Where to find it: Marshes, fens and beside streams. Flowering time: Late summer. Astrology. It is under Venus. Medicinal virtues: The whole plant has an insipid taste. It is cooling and binding and cases pains. It will cool a hot stomach. The herb boiled in wine, and drank, stays the dissolution of the stomach. The milk taken from the stalks is beneficial to the short-winded. A decoction of the leaves and stalks causes an abundance of milk in nursing mothers and their children to be well-coloured. The juice or distilled water is good for hot inflamrnations, wheals, eruptions, heat of the skin or itching haemorrhoids.The juice boiled in a little oil of bitter almonds in the peel of a Pomegranate and dropped into the cars is a sure remedy for deafness or singing in the ears. Modern uses: This plant is now very rare and thus little used in medicine. An infusion of Nettles helps milk production in nursing mothers. Pilewort or Comfrey are effective for haemorrhoids. No remedies should be introduced into the ears without adequate diagnosis. |