Remind me please

I took this photo when at the Eden Project and I cannot for the life of me remember its name.....senior moment I suspect I am sure someone will tell me



( photo / image / picture from Gardengirl's Garden )

 

I cant help with a serious answer, but it sure looks like a thistle on steroids to me LOL

 

I googled it and it does look like a pic of Musk thistle that I saw. It has a prehistoric look!

 

It looks like it is in the Protea family.

 

I think it's an Artichoke bloom

 

I agree with Netty--an Artichoke bloom.

 

Funny, I thought Artichoke too, although I have never seen one in person.

http://www.netjeff.com/gallery/v/MyFavo ... 1.jpg.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/confections/3634626943/

http://www.bonnieplants.com/Portals/0/a ... e-2-th.jpg

 

Thanks for the replies. I had to chuckle at playtime's 'thistle on steroids' I have studied my gardening books and it most resembles Cynara cardunculus (Cardoon) but having said that I think you might be right folks it does look like an artichoke but I would have thought it would have been displayed in the vegetable section at Eden :-?

 

The final height should give you an idea which one it is--the cardoon is uaually enormously tall.

 

Difficult to tell now Sjoerd as it was at Eden Project. It was very tall though so maybe a cardoon.

 

Ahh, I see. Well the cardoons that I have grown were well over my head and I am 6'3" tall. I would have needed a ladder to reach the top!
Did manage to keep some short by harvesting the stalks for eating.

 

The Cardoon is the wild variety of Artichoke so basically they are the same thing.