Baked Globe Artichoke Goats Cheese Olive Crumb, on a plate

• Contributor: Tony Smith / Alamy Stock Photo
• Image ID: P4HWP4
• File size: 20 MB (752.8 KB Compressed download)
• Releases: Model - no | Property - no
• Dimensions: 2774 x 2522 px | 23.5 x 21.4 cm | 9.2 x 8.4 inches | 300dpi
• Date taken: 21 May 2018
• Location: 243 Iffley Rd, Oxford, England, UK, OX4 1SJ

More information

The globe artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus), also known as French artichoke and green artichoke in the USA, is a variety of a species of thistle cultivated as a food. The edible portion of the plant consists of the flower buds before the flowers come into bloom. The budding artichoke flower-head is a cluster of many budding small flowers (an inflorescence), together with many bracts, on an edible base. Once the buds bloom, the structure changes to a coarse, barely edible form. Another variety of the same species is the cardoon, a perennial plant native to the Mediterranean region. Both wild forms and cultivated varieties (cultivars) exist.