Cynara
Cynara cardunculus
cynara
artichoke, artichoke thistle, cardoon
fleshy.
± erect, simple or branched, (leafy), stout.
glabrous to densely arachnoid-tomentose.
basal and cauline;
petiolate (basal and proximal cauline) or sessile (distal cauline);
blade margins 1–3-pinnately lobed or divided, sometimes essentially compound, spineless or with slender to very stout marginal spines, cauline progressively smaller and less divided distally, distalmost bractlike, abaxial faces pilose to densely gray-tomentose, adaxial glabrous or thinly tomentose, sometimes glandular.
basal blades 30–200 cm, margins deeply 1–2-pinnately lobed or divided to nearly compound, lobes oblong to lanceolate, entire to coarsely toothed, teeth and lobes innocuous to prominently spine-tipped, spines 1–30 mm, often clustered along petiole and at base of lobes, abaxial faces densely gray- or white-tomentose, adaxial faces thinly cobwebby-tomentose;
cauline leaves often short-decurrent as spiny wings.
hemispheric or ovoid, sometimes constricted distally, 5–15 cm diam.
often purplish tinged, 30–150 × 40–150 mm excluding spreading phyllary tips, constricted distally or not.
concave to flat or convex, epaleate, densely long-bristly.
many;
corollas white, blue, or purple, tubes very slender, throats abruptly expanded, cylindric, lobes linear;
anther bases long-sagittate, fringed, apical appendages oblong;
style branches: fused portions long, cylindric, minutely papillate, distinct portions minute.
blue or purple (rarely white), 3–5 cm;
styles long-exserted.
many in 5–8+ series, unequal;
outer lanceolate to broadly ovate, leathery, margins entire, with appressed bases and spreading apical appendages, acute to broadly obtuse or truncate, spine-tipped or spineless;
inner scarious.
lanceolate to broadly ovate, bases appressed, spreading apices obtuse to acute or acuminate, spineless or tipped with spines 1–9 mm or truncate, abruptly mucronate, and spineless or minutely spine-tipped.
discoid, borne singly or in few-headed, terminal, cymiform arrays.
± cylindric to obpyramidal, ± 4-angled, finely ribbed, sometimes ± flattened, glabrous, apices truncate, smooth, attachment scars basal;
pappi falling in rings of many (white or brownish), stiff bristles in 3–7 series, connate at bases, plumose proximally, often merely barbed distally.
4–8 mm;
pappus bristles 2–4 cm.
= 34.
Cynara
Cynara cardunculus
Species 8 (1 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
Cynara cardunculus is a species of considerable economic importance. The globe artichoke, formerly treated as C. scolymus, was included as a horticulturally derived form of C. cardunculus (A. Wiklund 1992). The artichoke and the cardoon, another horticultural race of C. cardunculus, have been cultivated for centuries–the former for edible phyllary bases and receptacles, and the latter for edible stems and leaf rachises. That species has a darker side, however. Wild type races (artichoke thistles) are invasive and tenacious weeds that have infested Mediterranean climate areas of California, South America, South Africa, and Australia. Wiklund recognized two subspecies of C. cardunculus: subsp. cardunculus includes the artichoke, cardoon, and various wild types; subsp. flavescens includes some of the most invasive weedy members of the species. It is not certain that all of the weedy artichoke thistles in California are members of the latter subspecies.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Middle involucral bracts broadly obtuse, truncate or emarginate to long-acuminate, apices with or without very narrow yellowish margins, spineless or tipped with slender spines to 9 mm | subsp. cardunculus |
1. Middle involucral bracts acute to short-acuminate, apices with yellowish margins 0.5–1 mm wide, tipped with stout spines to 2–5 mm | subsp. flavescens |
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
