Common name: Cardoon
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Cynara
Species cardunculus
I can not get this plant to grow at all. I think it's the same height as when I got it...I have it in a pot, maybe that is why?
It's a biennial so it stays pretty small the first year. It's in the second year that it bolts with the flowers.
dave
gumlla's picture is of milk thistle, Silybum mariana, not cardoon.