Echinops ritro


Echinops ritro, the southern globe thistle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to southern and eastern Europe, from Spain east to Turkey, Ukraine, and Belarus, and western and central Asia east to Mongolia. The species is sparingly naturalised in scattered locations in Canada and the United States.

Description

It is a compact, bushy herbaceous perennial thistle, growing to tall, with broad prickly leaves and bearing globes of steel-blue flowers 2.5–4.5 cm in diameter, in late summer.

Taxonomy

Five subspecies are accepted by the Plants of the World Online database:
Additionally, one variety is accepted, but without specification as to which subspecies it belongs to:
  • Echinops ritro var. elbursensis Parsa

Cultivation

Echinops ritro and the subspecies E. ritro subsp. ruthenicus have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Plants previously reported as naturalised in Great Britain are mostly or all the related species Echinops bannaticus.