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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
APIGENIN-7-O-BETA-GALACTOSIDE 0 Flower *
APIGENIN-7-O-GLUCOSIDE 2 Shoot *
APIGENIN-7-O-GLUCURONIDE 0 Shoot *
ARACHIDIC-ACID 0 Plant J.S. Glasby Dict.Pls Containing 2ndary Metabolite. 1991.
ARACHIDIC-ACID 0 Seed Oil *
AROMADENDRIN 3 Fruit 150.0 *
ASCORBIC-ACID 112 Leaf 26.0 120.0 -0.43 *
ASH 0 Leaf 13860.0 63000.0 -0.98 *
ASH 0 Plant 63000.0 -1.05 Pedersen, M. 1987. Nutritional Herbology. Pederson Publishing. Bountiful, Utah. 377 pp.
BEHENIC-ACID 1 Plant J.S. Glasby Dict.Pls Containing 2ndary Metabolite. 1991.
BEHENIC-ACID 1 Seed Oil *
BETA-CAROTENE 53 Leaf 7.0 31.0 -1.00 *
BETA-CAROTENE 53 Plant 31.0 -0.56 Pedersen, M. 1987. Nutritional Herbology. Pederson Publishing. Bountiful, Utah. 377 pp.
BETA-SITOSTEROL 47 Seed 100.0 -0.59 *
BETAINE 14 Seed 80.0 -1.00 *
CALCIUM 28 Leaf 1421.0 6460.0 -0.82 *
CALCIUM 28 Plant 6460.0 -0.76 *
CHROMIUM 24 Leaf 0.5 2.2 -0.46 *
CHROMIUM 24 Plant 2.2 -0.66 Pedersen, M. 1987. Nutritional Herbology. Pederson Publishing. Bountiful, Utah. 377 pp.
CHRYSOERIOL 7 Fruit *
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
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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
Hypoglycemic 6 Ivorra, M.D., Paya, M., and Villar, A. 1989. A Review of Natural Products and Plants as Potential Antidiabetic Drugs. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 27: 243-275, 1989.
Hypolipidemic 3 *
Hypotensive 10 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
ICAM-1-Inhibitor 3 *
IKK-Inhibitor 2 *
Immunomodulator 6 Economic & Medicinal Plant Research, 6: 189.
Immunostimulant 5 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Immunosuppressant 1 Martindale's 29th
iNOS-Inhibitor 4 *
Inotropic 3 *
Insectifuge 3 Jacobson, M., Glossary of Plant-Derived Insect Deterrents, CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, FL, 213 p, 1990.
Insulinogenic 4 *
Interferon-Synergist 1 *
Interferonogenic 1 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Interleukin-6-Inhibitor 1 *
Iodothyronine-Deiodinase-Inhibitor 2 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Irritant 3 Bisset, N.G., ed. 1994. Herbal Drugs and Phytopharmaceuticals. CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL. 566 pp.
JNK-Inhibitor 1 *
Juvabional 2 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Larvistat 1 Lydon, J. & Duke, S., The potential of pesticides from plants, pp. 1-41 in Craker, L. & Simon, J., eds, Herbs, Spices & Medicinal Plants: Recent Advances in Botany, Horticulture, & Pharmacology, v. 4, Oryx Press, Phoenix, 1989, 267pp.