Artichoke

Cultivation and production - Vegetables

Vegetables

Production

The artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus (L.) Benth.) is a dicotyledonous plant in the Asteraceae (or Compositae) family belonging to the genus Cynara.

The artichoke itself is a domesticated and cultivated thistle, of the species Cynara cardunculus, the wild variety of which is probably Cynara cardunculus var. sylvestris (Lamk.) Fiori, which has given rise to two forms : C. cardunculus f. cardunculus, the cardoon, and C. cardunculus f. scolymus, the artichoke. For a long time, these two forms were considered to be different species.

The name artichoke is used to describe both the whole plant and its edible part, the flower head, also known as the artichoke head. The word, which appeared during the Renaissance, is borrowed from its Arabic name الأرضي-شوكي (ʾarḍiyy šawkiyy) via the Lombard articiocco.