The Silybum marianum plant goes by many different names, including Scotch thistle, holy thistle, Mary thistle, variegated thistle, and milk thistle. The plant is native to Southern Europe and Asia ...

But variegated thistle is one of the worst and demands immediate attention. MANY types of thistles can look unsightly, compete with pasture and seriously contaminate sheep’s wool.

Variegated thistle or blessed thistle (Reader photo) Question. This thistle is in a couple of places on our property in Navarro County. We mowed over it after taking the picture.

Milk thistle is also known as Saint Mary’s Thistle, holy thistle, variegated thistle, and Scotch thistle. Throughout history, milk thistle has also been used to treat liver and gallbladder issues .

Variegated thistle has much more white streaking in the leaves than any of these thistles. Once flowering occurs, confusion between the thistles is less likely. Nodding thistle has a much larger seed ...

In the vegetative stage, the winged thistle has the typical prickly rosette of a thistle species, though it tends to have some faint whitish venation in leaves, but not as strongly as in variegated ...

In 1947, the Hawke’s Bay provincial executive of Federated Farmers wanted nodding thistle declared a noxious weed. Photo / Unsplash / Stephen H. Thistles were everywhere back in the day, whether ...

When I first moved to in Northeast Ohio and was getting to know the plants in my garden, it seemed innocent enough—it had attractive heart-shaped leaves and interesting variegated foliage.