Cynara scolymus L.
globe artichoke
Perennial herb 1-(2) m tall. Stems stout, ridged, with cobwebby hairs. Rosettes tufted, withering at fruiting. Basal lvs deeply pinnatifid, 30-60 × 15-40 cm; lobes lanceolate, becoming smaller towards base, glabrescent above, with cobwebby hairs beneath, viscid; midrib stout, ridged; spines usually 0 or sometimes fine, marginal, 2-3 mm long. Stem lvs similar to basal, the upper becoming smaller and less deeply divided. Capitula usually solitary, (7)-8-12 cm diam. Involucre globose to hemispheric; outer and middle bracts fleshy, ovate, with a suberect, emarginate-mucronate or cuspidate appendage; inner bracts oblong, with a scarious, ovate to lanceolate, mucronate appendage. Corolla 50-65 mm long; lobes lilac or blue. Style long-exserted, with base of stigma branches glabrous. Achenes 6-9 × 3-5 mm, obovoid, pale, usually spotted. Pappus 30-50 mm long.
N.: East Cape (Waikohu), Taranaki (near Stratford); S.: Otago (near Alexandra); Ch.
Cultivated origin, probably Mediterranean 1958
Riverbeds, roadsides, and waste land.
FL Feb-Mar FT Mar.
The globe artichoke apparently arose in cultivation, probably as a result of selection in cultivated cardoons for absence of spines and for fleshier involucral bracts. The 2 should probably be united as 1 sp.; wild and artifical hybrids are easily produced and fully fertile. Their characters intergrade to some extent.
The receptacle and fleshy bases of the involucral bracts of the globe artichoke are eaten, unlike the Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) where the tubers are the edible part.
