The Complete Herbal / To which is now added, upwards of one hundred additional herbs, with a display of their medicinal and occult qualities physically applied to the cure of all disorders incident to mankind: to which are now first annexed, the English physician enlarged, and key to Physic.

by Nicholas Culpeper

THISTLES.

Of these are many kinds growing here in England which are so well known, that they need no description: Their difference is easily known on the places where they grow, viz.

Place.] Some grow in fields, some in meadows, and some among the corn; others on heaths, greens, and waste grounds in many places.

Time.] They flower in June and August and their seed is ripe quickly after.

Government and virtues.] Surely Mars rules it, it is such a prickly business. All these thistles are good to provoke urine, and to mend the stinking smell thereof; as also the rank smell of the arm-pits, or the whole body; being boiled in wine and drank, and are said to help a stinking breath, and to strengthen the stomach. Pliny saith, That the juice bathed on the place that wants hair, it being fallen off, will cause it to grow speedily.