View source for Globe artichoke

{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = Globe Artichoke
| image = Artichokes.jpg
| image_caption = Globe Artichoke buds ready for cooking
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Asterales]]
| familia = [[Asteraceae]]
| genus = ''[[Cynara]]''
| species = '''''C. scolymus'''''
| binomial = ''Cynara scolymus''
| binomial_authority = [[Carolus Linnaeus|L.]]
}}

The '''Globe Artichoke''' (''Cynara scolymus'') is a [[Perennial plant|perennial]] [[thistle]] originating in [[southern Europe]] around the [[Mediterranean]]. It grows to 1.5-2 m tall, with arching, deeply lobed, silvery glaucous-green [[leaf|leaves]] 50–80 cm long. The [[flower]]s develop in a large head from an edible [[bud]] about 8–15 cm diameter with numerous triangular scales; the individual florets are purple. The edible portion of the buds consists primarily of the fleshy lower portions of the [[involucral bract]]s and the base, known as the "heart"; the mass of inedible immature florets in the center of the bud are called the "choke."