Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 M.Sc. Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands
2 Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modarres University
Abstract
Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is an annual range medicinal plant that wildly grows in some places of Iran. This research is the first ecological survey on milk thistle. The purpose is was to study ecological characteristics and phonologic stages of milk thistle. The climate of the area is wet. Annual average precipitation is 879.63 millimeters and annual average temperature is 16.29 centigrade. Results showed that the plant density and canopy cover in area was 30,000 plants per hectare and 33.2 % respectively. The mean length of root was 23 cm. The phonological studies showed that growth of roset leaves of milk thistle started from the end of September and continued till mid March. Stems appeared at the end of March, flowering took place from the end of April and the fruits ripped in mid May. On the basis of soil analysis, milk thistle prefers clay loam soils. Amounts of P, K, Ca, N, Organic matters, pH and EC were 4.25 ppm, 1584 ppm, 1.54 meq/lit, 0.16%, 4.26% and 0.1692 mMoh/cm respectively. Silymarin in the seed was 1.67%. Silybin in silymarin was 6.17%. Two different kinds of insect named: Oxythyrea cincletta and Epicormetis hirta poda observed on this plant.
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