Cynara scolymus

Plant: perennial, 8-20 dm, bushy; stems generally erect, leafy, branched, stout Leaves: alternate, unarmed or minutely spiny; surfaces ± densely gray-tomentose, 1-2-pinnately lobed to divided INFLORESCENCE: primary inflorescence a head, each resembling a flower; heads discoid, large, in cymes of 1-few; involucre 6-15 cm, 7-15 cm diam (not including tips), little narrowed above; phyllaries sometimes notched, spines 0 or weak Flowers: many; corollas 4-5 cm; tube very slender; throat widened abruptly; lobes linear; anther bases long-sagittate, tips oblong; style appendage long, cylindric, minutely papillate, tip barely notched Fruit: 5-6 mm, cylindric to obconic, ± 4-angled or ± compressed, glabrous, attached at base; pappus 3-5.5 cm, of many stiff bristles in several series, white or brownish, plumose below, fused and falling together Misc: Disturbed places; < 500 m.