How to Harvest Seeds From the Milk Thistle Plant

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is a white-veined, spiny plant with a purple center. It is an annual or biennial native to southern Europe, and can grow between 2 and 6 feet tall. The seeds of the milk thistle plant have been used for thousands of years for various health ailments, and according to the University of Maryland Medical Center, recent studies in the United States are determining milk thistle's protective and restorative qualities, especially in patients with hepatitis and liver disease. With tools you may already have at home, you can harvest the seeds of the milk thistle plant.

Protective gloves
Kitchen shears
Kitchen tray
Glass jar with lid

Instructions

- 1
  Monitor the milk thistle plant in the mid to late summer. You should not try to harvest the seeds until the seed head is brown. When the seed head is brown, the seeds will have the highest medicinal quality.
- 2
  Put on gardening gloves.
- 3
  Cut seed heads with kitchen shears. Store the seed heads in a basket until you remove as many seed heads as you want from the milk thistle plants.
- 4
  Remove the seeds from the pods and set them aside on a separate tray. If any leaves, pods, hairs or other debris get onto the tray, simply remove them and throw them away. You can use the seeds at this point, when they are fresh. If you want dry seeds, proceed to Step 5.
- 5
  Dry the seeds uncovered on the tray in a window in the sun for two days.
- 6
  Store the seeds in a glass jar with a tight lid in a cool, dry place, such as the refrigerator or pantry.

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