Tall globe-thistle, boulette de Hongrie

Echinops commutatus Juratzka

Plants 40–150 cm. Stems simple or more commonly much branched, white tomentose, especially distally. Leaves: basal and proximal cauline leaves winged-petiolate, mid and distal cauline clasping; blades ovate to elliptic or obovate, margins 1–2-pinnately lobed, lobes lanceolate to triangular, spiny-dentate, spine-tipped, spines slender, 2–3 mm; abaxial faces white-tomentose, adaxial green, glabrous to sparsely strigose. Secondary heads 3.5–6 cm diam. Involucres 20–30 mm. Phyllaries eglandular, ciliate, apices slender, slightly recurved. Corollas white to pale blue, 8–15 mm, tubes 2–6 mm, lobes 5–6 mm. Cypselae 7–8 mm; pappi of ± connate, ciliate scales ± 1 mm. 2n = 30.

Flowering summer (Jun–Sep). Disturbed sites; 0–500 m; introduced; N.B., Ont., Que.; Wash.; Europe.

Echinops exaltatus sometimes escapes from cultivation.