Editing Cardoon (section)

==Description==
The wild cardoon is a stout [[herbaceous plant|herbaceous]] [[perennial plant]] growing {{convert|0.8|to|1.5|m|in|abbr=on}} tall, with deeply lobed and heavily spined green to grey-green [[tomentose]] (hairy or downy) leaves up to {{convert|50|cm|0|abbr=on}} long, with yellow spines up to 3.5&nbsp;cm long. The flowers are violet-purple, produced in a large, [[globose]], massively spined [[head (botany)|capitulum]] up to {{convert|6|cm|0|abbr=on}} in diameter.<ref name=Sonnante>{{cite journal |last1=Sonnante |first1=G. |last2=Pignone |first2=D. |last3=Hammer |first3=K. |title=The Domestication of Artichoke and Cardoon: From Roman Times to the Genomic Age |journal=Annals of Botany |date=2007 |volume=100 |issue=5 |pages=1095–1100 |doi=10.1093/aob/mcm127|pmid=17611191 |pmc=2759203 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.my-malta.com//interesting/MalteseFlora02.html |title=Malta's Native Flora |access-date=2011-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090512190610/http://www.my-malta.com/interesting/MalteseFlora02.html |archive-date=2009-05-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=Tela>[http://www.tela-botanica.org/eflore/BDNFF/4.02/nn/20526/export/pdf Tela Botanica: ''Cynara cardunculus'' L.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329060927/http://www.tela-botanica.org/eflore/BDNFF/4.02/nn/20526/export/pdf |date=March 29, 2012 }} (in French)</ref><ref name=rhs>Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan {{ISBN|0-333-47494-5}}.</ref>

It is adapted to dry climates, native across a circum-[[Mediterranea]] area from [[Morocco]] and [[Portugal]] east to [[Libya]] and [[Greece]] and north to  [[Croatia]] and Southern [[France]];<ref>[http://luirig.altervista.org/flora/taxa/index1.php?scientific-name=cynara+cardunculus Altervista Flora Italiana, Carciofo selvatico, Cardoon, ''Cynara cardunculus'' L.] includes p hotos and European distribution map</ref> it may also be native on [[Cyprus]], the [[Canary Islands]] and [[Madeira]].<ref>Euro+Med PlantBase [http://ww2.bgbm.org/EuroPlusMed/PTaxonDetailOccurrence.asp?NameId=134075&PTRefFk=7000000 ''Cynara cardunculus'']</ref> In [[France]], the frost-tender cardoon only occurs wild in the [[Mediterranean]] south ([[Gard]], [[Hérault]], [[Aude]], [[Pyrénées-Orientales]], [[Corsica]]).<ref name=Tela/> It has become an [[invasive species|invasive weed]] in the [[pampas]] of [[Argentina]],<ref name=rhs/> and is also considered a weed in [[Australia]] and [[California]].<ref>[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=200023811 Flora of North America Cardoon, artichoke, artichoke thistle, ''Cynara scolymus'' L.]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:apni.taxon:552166|title=Cynara cardunculus : Artichoke Thistle – Atlas of Living Australia|author=Atlas of Living Australia|work=ala.org.au}}</ref><ref>[http://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Cynara%20cardunculus.png Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map]</ref><ref>[http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-taxon=Cynara+cardunculus Calflora taxon report, University of California, ''Cynara cardunculus'' L., artichoke thistle, cardoon ]</ref>

The "giant thistle of the Pampas" reported by [[Charles Darwin]] has been identified as cardoon.<ref>[http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=156&itemID=F1598&viewtype=side Letter 46, Darwin Online]</ref>