Cardoon | |
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Plants in bloom, Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina Natural Park, Portugal | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
(unranked): | Angiosperms |
(unranked): | Eudicots |
(unranked): | Asterids |
Order: | Asterales |
Family: | Asteraceae |
Tribe: | Cynareae |
Genus: | Cynara |
Species: | C. cardunculus |
Binomial name | |
Cynara cardunculus L. |
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Synonyms | |
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Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) | |
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Energy | 71 kJ (17 kcal) |
4.07 g
|
|
Dietary fiber | 1.6 g |
0.1 g
|
|
0.7 g
|
|
Vitamins | |
Thiamine (B1) |
(2%)
0.02 mg |
Riboflavin (B2) |
(3%)
0.03 mg |
Niacin (B3) |
(2%)
0.3 mg |
Pantothenic acid (B5) |
(7%)
0.338 mg |
Vitamin B6 |
(9%)
0.116 mg |
Folate (B9) |
(17%)
68 μg |
Vitamin C |
(2%)
2 mg |
Minerals | |
Calcium |
(7%)
70 mg |
Iron |
(5%)
0.7 mg |
Magnesium |
(12%)
42 mg |
Manganese |
(12%)
0.256 mg |
Phosphorus |
(3%)
23 mg |
Potassium |
(9%)
400 mg |
Sodium |
(11%)
170 mg |
Zinc |
(2%)
0.17 mg |
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|
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Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults. Source: USDA Nutrient Database |
The cardoon (Cynara cardunculus), also called the artichoke thistle, cardone, cardoni, carduni, or cardi, is a thistle-like plant in the sunflower family. It is a naturally occurring species that includes the globe artichoke, and has many cultivated forms. It is native to the western and central Mediterranean region, where it was domesticated in ancient times.
The wild cardoon is a stout herbaceous perennial plant growing 0.8 to 1.5 m (31 to 59 in) tall, with deeply lobed and heavily spined green to grey-green tomentose (hairy or downy) leaves up to 50 cm (20 in) long, with yellow spines up to 3.5 cm long. The flowers are violet-purple, produced in a large, globose, massively spined capitulum up to 6 cm (2 in) in diameter.
It is adapted to dry climates, native across an area from Morocco and Portugal east to Libya and Greece and north to France and Croatia; it may also be native on Cyprus, the Canary Islands and Madeira. In France, it only occurs wild in the Mediterranean south (Gard, Hérault, Aude, Pyrénées-Orientales, Corsica). It has become an invasive weed in the pampas of Argentina, and is also considered a weed in Australia and California.