Spanish artichoke

Cynara cardunculus, the cardoon (which includes the cultivated globe artichoke), is a robust, thistle-like perennial herb of the daisy family growing 1 to 2 m tall from a stout taproot. It forms large rosettes of deeply pinnately divided, greyish-green leaves that are often spiny, woolly-white beneath, and may exceed half a metre in length; the fleshy leaf-stalks and midribs are blanched and eaten in the cardoon form. Tall, branched, grooved flowering stems bear very large globular flower heads enclosed in fleshy, spine-tipped bracts; the artichoke 'choke' and fleshy receptacle are the edible parts of the artichoke form. The numerous florets are bright violet-blue and tubular. Native to the Mediterranean region, it grows on dry, sunny slopes and is cultivated both as a vegetable and as a bitter medicinal herb.