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Asteraceae FAMILY

Echinops spinosissimus

Echinops spinosissimus

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
3/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
Growth—

Echinops spinosissimus thrives in desert conditions, tolerating a mean annual rainfall that can be as low as 20 - 100mm[1]. Succeeds in a sunny position in any well drained soil of low or medium fertility[2, 3, 1]. Most species in this genus thrive in hot, dry soils[3]. Established plants are drought tolerant[4].

Propagation

Seed - sow early spring in a cold frame[5]. The seed usually germinates in 3 - 9 weeks at 25°c[2]. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer. The seed can also be sown in an outdoor seedbed in mid spring and is then planted out into its permanent position in late summer or the autumn[5]. Division in autumn[5]. Root cuttings in the winter[3]. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Echinops+spinosissimus>

Pollinators

Insects

References

  1. [1]A Guide to Medicinal Plants in North Africa — IUCN; Malaga, Spain · 2005 · ISBN 2-8317-0893-1 ↩︎A guide to over 100 species of medicinal herbs in N. Africa.
  2. [2]Focus on Plants. Volume 5. (formerly 'Growing from seed') — Bird. R. (Editor) · Thompson and Morgan. · 1991 · ISBN - ↩︎Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation. A good article on Corydalis spp.
  3. [3]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  4. [4]The Dry Garden. — Chatto. B. · Dent · 1982 · ISBN 0460045512 ↩︎A good list of drought resistant plants with details on how to grow them.
  5. [5]Popular Hardy Perennials. — Sanders. T. W. · Collingridge · 1926 · ISBN - ↩︎A fairly wide range of perennial plants that can be grown in Britain and how to grow them.
  6. [6]Flowers of the Mediterranean. — Polunin. O. and Huxley. A. · Hogarth Press · 1987 · ISBN 0-7012-0784-1 ↩︎A very readable pocket flora that is well illustrated. Gives some information on plant uses.
  7. [7]Flora of the USSR. — Komarov. V. L. · Israel Program for Scientific Translation · 1968 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org · ISBN - ↩︎An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  8. [8]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  9. [9]A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. — Usher. G. · Constable · 1974 · ISBN 0094579202 ↩︎Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.
  10. [10]Plants for Human Consumption. — Kunkel. G. · Koeltz Scientific Books · 1984 · ISBN 3874292169 ↩︎An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of Latin names with a brief list of edible parts.