Carline Thistle
Parts Usually Used
Root
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Carline thistle is a European perennial plant; the finger-thick rootstock is brown on the outside, lighter and fissured on the inside, and has an unpleasant, pungent odor when fresh but an aromatic odor when dried. The lanceolate, sharply incised leaves, similar to dandelion leaves, are radially arranged in a circle on the ground. A single, large, stemless flower, with a creamy-white center and silvery-white, petal-like bracts, sits immediately on top of the rosette of leaves.
Where Found
Found on slopes, waste land, pastures, preferring limestone soils.
Medicinal Properties
Carminative, diaphoretic, digestive, diuretic, febrifuge
Legends, Myths and Stories
In the Middle Ages, an angel was supposed to have shown Charlemagne how to use carline thistle against an epidemic of the plague which was killing his soldiers. Therefore, this herb was named after Charlemagne, whose name in German was Karl der Grosse, or Carl the Great. In medieval beliefs, this thistle could draw strength from other people and even animals, to the person carrying the herb.
Another belief was; by eating a cooked carline thistle root a man could gain the sexual strength and potency of a stallion. For this to be effective, the root had to be grown and prepared according to a prescribed ritual which included planting and harvesting it only under a new moon at the stroke of midnight and fertilizing it with the sperm of a black stallion. Even today, some rural Germans believe that carrying a carline thistle will protect them from harm.
It is regarded as a weather predictor; the flower closes when the air becomes more humid, which is usually the indication of rain and bad weather.
Uses
Historically, herbalists noted that the plant possessed emetic and purgative properties. Traditional practitioners recommended it for kidney and stomach complaints, dropsy, impotence, and fevers associated with gastric issues. Later accounts described primarily external applications, where the root was utilized with the belief that it could diminish scars. Decoctions of the root prepared with white wine or wine vinegar were also historically employed as washes for wounds and various skin conditions.
Bibliography
Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs , by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814) The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974. , 180 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014, first printed by the United States Government Printing Office, Washington, in 1928, this Dover edition 1974 The Magic of Herbs , by David Conway, published by Jonathan Cape, Thirty Bedford Square, London, England.
, Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023