Blessed Thistle
the English name of several thistles. (1) Cnicus benedictus, formerly called Centaurea benedicta. Both the English name and the Latin specific appellation refer to the fact that formerly it was believed to destroy intestinal worms, to cure fevers, the plague, and even the most stubborn ulcers and cancers, an opinion for which there seems to have been no foundation whatever. (2) Carduus benedictus ["United States Pharmacopæia"], the blessed thistle of modern medicine, in which it has an honorable place as a tonic and diaphoretic. (3) Carthamus lanatus is also in some localities called the blessed thistle.