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Echinops spinosissimus
Echinops spinosissimus, the spiny globe thistle, is a European species of plant in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae. It is native to southeastern Europe (Sicily, Apulia, Greece, Albania, and the western Balkans), northern Africa, and southwest Asia as far east as Iran.
Echinops spinosissimus is a branching perennial herb up to 80 cm (2 feet) tall. Leaves are divided into narrow triangular lobes, each with a slender but hard spine at the tip. The plant produces nearly spherical flower heads containing many white or pale lavender disc florets but no ray florets.
5 branches of this group, most-observed first

Spiny Globe-thistle
speciesEchinops spinosissimus

Indian Globe Thistle
speciesEchinops echinatus

Echinops bovei
speciesEchinops bovei

Echinops glaberrimus
speciesEchinops glaberrimus

Echinops fontqueri
speciesEchinops fontqueri
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Echinops spinosissimus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 1194092.