Silybum marianum cultivar:Silyking Genome sequencing and assembly. Silybum marianum cultivar:Silyking

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn.) is an herb plant in the family Asteraceae and contains silymarin, known for its liver health benefits. Here, we present the first high-quality chromosome-level reference S. marianum genome assembled using Illumina, Oxford Nanopore, and Pore-C scaffolding technologies. The assembled genome was 694.36 Mb in length, with a contig N50 of 28.05 Mb and a scaffold N50 of 41.36 Mb. A total of 99.3% of the assembly was anchored to 17 chromosomes, and 53,552 protein-coding genes were identified. Deciphering the genome of milk thistle will allow us to better understand and utilize the benefits and mechanisms of this herb plant.