Blessed, or Holy, Thistle can be found in abundance in Europe, Asia, the American prairies, in Canada and British Columbia as well as Australia. It is a handsome annual occurring in waste, stony, uncultivated places. It is said to have obtained it's name from it's high reputation as a heal-all, being supposed even to cure the plague. The Blessed Thistle grows about 2 feet high, is reddish, slender, very much branched and scarcely able to keep upright under the weight of it's leaves and flowerheads. In cold infusions, Blessed Thistle is valuable in weak and debilitated conditions of the stomach, and as a tonic, creating appetite and preventing sickness. In warm infusions, it forms, in intermittent fevers, one of the most useful diaphoretics to which employment can be given. The plant was at one time supposed to possess very great virtues against fevers of all kinds. Is said to have great power in the purification and circulation of the blood, and on this account strengthens the brain and the memory. Because of it's powerful estrogenic properties, it is chiefly used now for nursing mothers, the warm infusion scarcely ever failing to procure a proper supply of milk. It is considered one of the best medicines which can be used for the purpose.
