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Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
U.S. Department of Agriculture
  1. Home
  2. Silybum marianum

Silybum marianum (Asteraceae)

Common Names
Milk Thistle; Lady's Thistle
How this plant is used
Generally Recognized as Safe
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
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List of plant chemicals.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Chemical Name Activity Count Plant Part Low Parts Per Million High Parts Per Million Standard Deviation Reference
PALMITIC-ACID 13 Seed *
PALMITIC-ACID 13 Seed Oil *
PEROXIDASE-ISOENZYMES 0 Fruit *
PEROXIDASE-ISOENZYMES 0 Leaf *
PEROXIDASE-ISOENZYMES 0 Root *
PEROXIDASE-ISOENZYMES 0 Stem *
PHOSPHORUS 4 Leaf 1553.0 7060.0 0.38 *
PHOSPHORUS 4 Plant 7060.0 1.67 Pedersen, M. 1987. Nutritional Herbology. Pederson Publishing. Bountiful, Utah. 377 pp.
POTASSIUM 14 Leaf 1833.0 8330.0 -0.97 *
POTASSIUM 14 Plant 8330.0 -0.94 Pedersen, M. 1987. Nutritional Herbology. Pederson Publishing. Bountiful, Utah. 377 pp.
PROLINE 0 Tissue Culture *
PROTEIN 0 Leaf 31460.0 143000.0 -0.69 *
PROTEIN 0 Plant 143000.0 -0.25 Pedersen, M. 1987. Nutritional Herbology. Pederson Publishing. Bountiful, Utah. 377 pp.
PROTEIN 0 Seed 186000.0 280000.0 0.41 *
QUERCETIN 176 Fruit *
QUERCETIN 176 Seed List, P.H. and Horhammer, L., Hager's Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, Vols. 2-6, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1969-1979.
RIBOFLAVIN 15 Leaf 0.4 2.0 -0.17 *
SELENIUM 60 Leaf 2.0 7.1 0.16 *
SELENIUM 60 Plant 7.1 -0.11 Pedersen, M. 1987. Nutritional Herbology. Pederson Publishing. Bountiful, Utah. 377 pp.
SILANDRIN 1 Fruit *
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
Download these results as:
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List of plant activities.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Activity Chemical Count Reference
Aphidifuge 3 *
Apoptotic 7 *
Aromatase-Inhibitor 4 Journal of Medicinal Food 2: 235.1999.
Artemicide 1 Jung, J.H., Pummangura, S., Chaichantipyuth, c., Patarapanich, C., and McLaughlin, J.L. 1989. Bioactive Constituents of Melodorum fruticosum. Phytochemistry. 29(5): 1667-1670. 1990.
Asthma-preventive 1 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Astringent 1 Martindale's 28th
ATPase-Inhibitor 1 Nigg, H.N. and Seigler, D.S., eds. 1992. Phytochemical Resources for Medicine and Agriculture. Plenum Press, New York. 445 pp.
Bacteristat 1 *
Beta-Adrenergic Receptor Blocker 1 *
Beta-Blocker 1 *
Beta-Glucuronidase-Inhibitor 3 *
Bradycardiac 1 Huang, K. C. 1993. The Pharmacology of Chinese Herbs. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL 388 pp.
Bronchoconstrictor 1 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Bronchostimulant 1 Martindale's 28th
Bruchiphobe 1 Jacobson, M., Glossary of Plant-Derived Insect Deterrents, CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, FL, 213 p, 1990.
Calcium-Antagonist 3 *
Calcium-Antagonist? 1 Biochimica & Biophysica Acta, 1115: 69, 1991.
Calcium-Channel-Blocker 1 *
Calmodulin-Antagonist 1 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
cAMP-Phosphodiesterase-Inhibitor 3 *