Cage thistle

Atractylis cancellata is a low spiny annual herb in the daisy family (Asteraceae) native to the Mediterranean basin, from Iberia and North Africa through southern Europe to the Middle East. Plants are 5-30 cm tall, typically with a single erect stem branching from near the base, somewhat woolly when young and becoming glabrescent with age. Leaves are alternate, oblong to lanceolate, 2-6 cm long, sessile or shortly petiolate, with margins coarsely spinose-toothed and a finely cobwebby underside. The diagnostic feature is the conspicuous cage of stiff, palmately divided, spine-tipped outer involucral bracts that arch over and enclose the flower head like a basket, giving rise to the common name 'cage thistle' and the epithet 'cancellata' (Latin for latticed). The flower head itself is small and contains only tubular pinkish-purple to pale violet florets; ray florets are absent. Achenes are densely silky-hairy with a feathery pappus. It grows on dry stony slopes, garrigue, and disturbed calcareous soils.