An official website of the United States government.

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

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

Select a Results View:

View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
Download these results as:
CSV
EXCEL
PDF
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
LUTEOLIN-7-GLUCOSIDE 7 Shoot *
MAGNESIUM 65 Leaf 887.0 4030.0 -0.04 *
MAGNESIUM 65 Plant 4030.0 -0.01 Pedersen, M. 1987. Nutritional Herbology. Pederson Publishing. Bountiful, Utah. 377 pp.
MANGANESE 14 Leaf 3.2 14.7 -0.44 *
MANGANESE 14 Plant 14.7 -0.59 Pedersen, M. 1987. Nutritional Herbology. Pederson Publishing. Bountiful, Utah. 377 pp.
MUCILAGE 3 Seed *
MYRISTIC-ACID 6 Seed *
NARINGENIN 56 Fruit *
NARINGENIN 56 Seed *
NEOSILYHERMIN 0 Plant *
NEOSILYHERMIN 0 Seed *
NIACIN 39 Leaf 2.2 10.0 -1.06 *
NIACIN 39 Plant 10.0 -0.93 Pedersen, M. 1987. Nutritional Herbology. Pederson Publishing. Bountiful, Utah. 377 pp.
NITRATES 0 Shoot *
OCTADECADIENOIC-ACID 0 Seed *
OCTADECATRIENOIC-ACID 0 Seed *
OCTADECENOIC-ACID 0 Seed *
OLEIC-ACID 18 Seed *
OLEIC-ACID 18 Seed Oil 180000.0 250000.0 -0.37 *
PALMITIC-ACID 13 Plant *
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
Download these results as:
CSV
EXCEL
PDF
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
Laxative 4 Leung, A. Y. and Foster, S. 1995. Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients 2nd Ed. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 649 pp.
Leptingenic 1 Challem, J., Berkson, Burt, and Smith, Melissa Dianne. 2000.
Syndrome X - The complete nutritional program to prevent and reservse insulin resistance. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 272 pp. $24.95
Lipotropic 1 *
Lipoxygenase-Inhibitor 4 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Lithogenic 1 Davies, S., and Stewart, A. 1990. Nutritional Medicine. Avon Books, New York. 509pp.
Litholytic 1 *
Lubricant 3 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
MAO-A-Inhibitor 1 *
MAO-Inhibitor 2 *
MAPK-Inhibitor 2 *
Mast-Cell-Stabilizer 1 *
Memorigenic 1 *
Memory-Enhancer 1 Science News, 138: 189, 1990.
Metal-Chelator (Copper) 1 Seidel, V., Verholle, M., Malard, Y., Tillequin, F., Fruchart, J-C., Duriez, P., Bailleul, F., Teissier, E. 2000. Phenylpropanoids from Ballota nigra L. Inhibit in vitro LDL Peroxidation. Phytotherapy Research, 14(2): 93-98.
Metalloproteinase-Inhibitor 2 *
Metastatic 1 Science News, 146: 421.
MMP-9-Inhibitor 2 *
Mucogenic 3 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Mucolytic 1 Martindale's 28th
Musculotropic 1 Wichtl, M. 1984. Teedrogen. Ein Handbuch fur Apotheker und Arzte. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellscharft. mbH Stuttgart. 393 pp.