Globe thistle
Echinops ritro
Family · Asteraceae · Irritating
The thistle that makes a perfect metallic blue globe atop its stem, rather than a flat head like the others. Each globe is made of dozens of individual flowers, each with its own casing of spines.
Scrubland · Roadsides and waste ground · Uplands · Fields and pasture
Also known assmall globe thistle, blue globe thistle
How to tell it
The blue globe, three to five centimetres, is unmistakable and exists in nothing else in our flora. Leaves divided into spiny segments, dark green above and white-felted beneath. A whitish grooved stem. Range: mainly a Spanish plant, practically absent from Portugal.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
No food use. The leaf wool served as tinder for making fire, which is what the Spanish name says. It is one of the best plants for bees and butterflies in the dry high summer.