| Scientific Name: | Eryngium variifolium |
| Common Name: | marble-leaf sea holly, Moroccan sea holly |
| Family Name: | Apiaceae |
| Origin: | Africa - northern |
| Hardiness Zone: | Zone 5: (-29 to -23 °C) |
| Plant Type: | Broadleaf evergreen |
| Mature Size: | 0.2 - 0.4m x 0.1 - 0.3m (height x width) |
| Habit: | Spreading |
| Form: | Creeping / Mat-like, Mounded |
| Texture: | Medium |
| Landscape Uses: | Alpine, Attract beneficial insects, Attract butterflies, Container planting, Cut flower or foliage, Group or mass planting, Mixed shrub border, Perennial border, Rock garden, Small garden/space, Spring interest, Summer interest |
| Exposure: | Full sun |
| Soil or Media: | Rocky or gravelly or dry |
| Leaves: | Simple, Alternate, Basal, Leathery, Prickly, Heavily veined, Lustrous, Oblong, Ovate, Incised, Serrate, Spinose |
| Flowers: | Umbel, Blue, Silver, Jun-Jul-Aug-Sep |
| Fruit: | Achene, Schizocarp, Brown, Sep-Oct |
| Key ID Features: | |
| Leaves mostly basal, ovate-oblong, most 3-7cm long x 2-5cm wide, white veined, margin dentate-serrate to lobed with spinose tips, petioles 4-8cm long; stem leaves alternate, usually more deeply lobed and spinose; flowers tiny and packed together to form a silvery-blue thistle-like 'head' with narrow, spiny silver bracts below 2-3cm long. | |