| Scientific Name: | Cynara cardunculus |
| Common Name: | cardoon, globe artichoke |
| Family Name: | Asteraceae |
| Origin: | Europe |
| Hardiness Zone: | Zone 7: (-18 to -12 °C) |
| Plant Type: | Herbaceous perennial |
| Mature Size: | 2 - 3m x 1.5 - 2.0m (height x width) |
| Habit: | Arching, Upright |
| Form: | Mounded |
| Texture: | Very coarse |
| Landscape Uses: | Cut flower or foliage, Medicinal plant, Perennial border, Tall background, Urban agriculture |
| Exposure: | Full sun only if soil kept moist, Sheltered |
| Soil or Media: | Well-drained |
| Leaves: | Simple, Lobed, Alternate, Soft flexible, Pubescent, Tomentose, Elliptic, Ovate, Pinnately lobed |
| Flowers: | Head (capitulum), Blue, Purple, Pink, Jul-Aug-Sep |
| Fruit: | Cypsela (achene + calyx), Brown, Oct-Nov, (Persistent) |
| Key ID Features: | |
| Leaves alternate, most 60-90cm long x 20-50cm wide, deeply incised-lobed, prickly, silver-gray, undersides tomentose; flower heads thistle-like, 3-8cm wide, blue-purple to pinkish, Jul-Sep. | |