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Species
Cynara cardunculus L. typica Willkomm ex. Mariz
IUCN
NCBI
EOL Text
Cynara cardunculus is a species of considerable economic importance. The globe artichoke, formerly treated as C. scolymus, was included as a horticulturally derived form of C. cardunculus (A. Wiklund 1992). The artichoke and the cardoon, another horticultural race of C. cardunculus, have been cultivated for centuries–the former for edible phyllary bases and receptacles, and the latter for edible stems and leaf rachises. That species has a darker side, however. Wild type races (artichoke thistles) are invasive and tenacious weeds that have infested Mediterranean climate areas of California, South America, South Africa, and Australia. Wiklund recognized two subspecies of C. cardunculus: subsp. cardunculus includes the artichoke, cardoon, and various wild types; subsp. flavescens includes some of the most invasive weedy members of the species. It is not certain that all of the weedy artichoke thistles in California are members of the latter subspecies.
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United States
Origin: Exotic
Regularity: Regularly occurring
Currently: Unknown/Undetermined
Confidence: Confident
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IV, V, RM, VI, VII, VIII, Juan Fernandez
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Rights holder/Author | Pablo Gutierrez, IABIN |
Source | No source database. |
Chile Central
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Rights holder/Author | Pablo Gutierrez, IABIN |
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Taproots fleshy. Stems glabrous to densely arachnoid-tomentose. Leaves: basal blades 30–200 cm, margins deeply 1–2-pinnately lobed or divided to nearly compound, lobes oblong to lanceolate, entire to coarsely toothed, teeth and lobes innocuous to prominently spine-tipped, spines 1–30 mm, often clustered along petiole and at base of lobes, abaxial faces densely gray- or white-tomentose, adaxial faces thinly cobwebby-tomentose; cauline leaves often short-decurrent as spiny wings. Involucres often purplish tinged, 30–150 × 40–150 mm excluding spreading phyllary tips, constricted distally or not. Phyllaries lanceolate to broadly ovate, bases appressed, spreading apices obtuse to acute or acuminate, spineless or tipped with spines 1–9 mm or truncate, abruptly mucronate, and spineless or minutely spine-tipped. Corollas blue or purple (rarely white), 3–5 cm; styles long-exserted. Cypselae 4–8 mm; pappus bristles 2–4 cm.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=200023811 |
In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / parasite
Leveillula taurica parasitises Cynara cardunculus
óleo essencial
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Rights holder/Author | CPQBA/UNICAMP, IABIN |
Source | No source database. |
United States
Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Cynara+cardunculus |
Rounded Global Status Rank: GNR - Not Yet Ranked
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Cynara+cardunculus |
The cardoon (Cynara cardunculus), also called the artichoke thistle, cardone, cardoni, carduni or cardi, is a thistle-like plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a naturally occurring species that is sometimes considered to include the globe artichoke, and has many cultivated forms. It is native to the western and central Mediterranean region, where it was domesticated in ancient times.
§Description[edit]
The wild cardoon is a stout herbaceous perennial plant growing 0.8 to 1.5 m (31 to 59 in) tall, with deeply lobed and heavily spined green to grey-green tomentose (hairy or downy) leaves up to 50 cm (20 in) long, with yellow spines up to 3.5 cm long. The flowers are violet-purple, produced in a large, globose, massively spined capitulum up to 6 cm (2 in) in diameter.[2][3][4][5]
It is adapted to dry climates, native across an area from Morocco and Portugal east to Libya and Greece and north to France and Croatia; it may also be native on Cyprus, the Canary Islands and Madeira.[6] In France, it only occurs wild in the Mediterranean south (Gard, Hérault, Aude, Pyrénées-Orientales, Corsica).[4] It has become an invasive weed in the pampas of Argentina,[5] and is also considered a weed in Australia and California.
In cultivation in the United Kingdom, this plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[7][verification needed]
§Cultivation[edit]
The two main cultivar groups are the cardoon (Cynara cardunculus Cardoon Group, syn. C. cardunculus var. altilis DC), selected for edible leaf stems, and the artichoke (Cynara cardunculus Scolymus Group, sometimes distinguished as Cynara scolymus or C. cardunculus var. scolymus (L.) Fiori), selected for larger edible flower buds. They differ from the wild plant in being larger (up to 2 m tall), much less spiny, and with thicker leaf stems and larger flowers, all characteristics selected by humans for greater crop yield and easier harvest and processing.[2][8] Wild and cultivated cardoons and artichokes are very similar genetically, and are fully interfertile, but only have very limited ability to form hybrids with other species in the genus Cynara.[2]
The earliest description of the cardoon may come from the fourth-century BC Greek writer Theophrastus, under the name κάκτος (Latin: cactus), although the exact identity of this plant is uncertain.[2] The cardoon was popular in Greek, Roman, and Persian cuisine, and remained popular in medieval and early modern Europe. It also became common in the vegetable gardens of colonial America. They fell from fashion only in the late 19th century. In Europe, cardoon is still cultivated in France (Provence, Savoie, Lyonnais), Spain, and Italy. In the Geneva region, where Huguenot refugees introduced it about 1685, the local cultivar 'Argenté de Genève' ('Cardy')[9] is considered a culinary specialty. "Before cardoons are sent to table, the stalks or ribs are blanched tying them together and wrapping them round with straw, which is also tied up with cord, and left so for about three weeks".[10] Cardoons also are common vegetables in northern Africa, often used in Algerian or Tunisian couscous.
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) | |
---|---|
Energy | 71 kJ (17 kcal) |
4.07 g
|
|
Dietary fiber | 1.6 g |
0.1 g
|
|
0.7 g
|
|
Vitamins | |
Thiamine (B1) |
(2%)
0.02 mg |
Riboflavin (B2) |
(3%)
0.03 mg |
Niacin (B3) |
(2%)
0.3 mg |
(7%)
0.338 mg |
|
Vitamin B6 |
(9%)
0.116 mg |
Folate (B9) |
(17%)
68 μg |
Vitamin C |
(2%)
2 mg |
Trace metals | |
Calcium |
(7%)
70 mg |
Iron |
(5%)
0.7 mg |
Magnesium |
(12%)
42 mg |
Manganese |
(12%)
0.256 mg |
Phosphorus |
(3%)
23 mg |
Potassium |
(9%)
400 mg |
Sodium |
(11%)
170 mg |
Zinc |
(2%)
0.17 mg |
|
|
|
|
Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults. Source: USDA Nutrient Database |
Cardoon stalks can be covered with small, nearly invisible spines that can cause substantial pain if they become lodged in the skin. Several spineless cultivars have been developed to overcome this.
Cardoon requires a long, cool growing season (about five months), but it is frost-sensitive. It also typically requires substantial growing space per plant, so is not much grown except where it is regionally popular.
§Gastronomy[edit]
While the flower buds can be eaten much as small (and spiny) artichokes, more often the stems are eaten after being braised in cooking liquid. The flower buds of wild cardoons are still widely collected and used in southern Italy and Sicily.[11] In Spain and Portugal, the flower buds are also employed in cheesemaking: the pistils of the cardoon flower are used as a vegetable rennet in the making of some cheeses such as the Torta del Casar and the Torta de la Serena cheeses in Spain, or the azeitão cheese in Portugal. Cardoon is also part of Lyonnaise cuisine (cardoon au gratin).
Cardoon leaf stalks, which look like large celery stalks, can be served steamed or braised, and have an artichoke-like flavour. They are harvested in winter and spring, being best just before the plant flowers.[8] In the Abruzzi region of Italy, Christmas lunch is traditionally started with a soup of cardoon cooked in chicken broth with little meatballs (lamb or, more rarely, beef), sometimes with the further addition of egg (which scrambles in the hot soup – called stracciatella) or fried chopped liver and heart.[citation needed]
The cardoon stalks are considered a delicacy in Spain, particularly in the northern region of Navarre, where they are grown in large quantities.[12] Only the innermost, white stalks are considered edible, a reason for which in Spain cardoons are usually cultivated by protecting the leaf stalks from the sunlight, often by burying them underground; thus, cardoon plantations in Spain are often formed by characteristic earth mounds surrounding each plant, the earth covering the stalks.[13] In Spain, cardoons are typically cooked by first boiling the stalks to soften them, and then adding simple sauces such as almond sauce or small amounts of jamón; they are sometimes combined with clams, artichokes, or beans as well. Because of their seasonality (from November to February), cardoons are a staple of the Christmas dinner in Navarre and the surrounding regions; for the same reason, cardoons are often sold as vegetable preserves, usually in water or brine, so that they can be eaten all year round.[12] Cardoons are an ingredient in one of the national dishes of Spain, the cocido madrileño, a slow-cooking, one-pot, meat and vegetable dish simmered in broth.
In the USA, it is rarely found in stores, but available in farmers' markets, where it is available through May, June, and July. The main root can also be boiled and served cold.[14] The stems are also traditionally served battered and fried at St. Joseph's altars in New Orleans.
It is one of the herbs used to flavour Amaro liqueur, which may be called Cardamaro.
§Other uses[edit]
Cardoons are used as a vegetarian source of enzymes for cheese production. In Portugal, traditional coagulation of the curd relies entirely on this vegetable rennet. This results in cheeses such as the Nisa (D.O.P.), with a peculiar earthy, herbaceous and slightly citric flavour that bears affinity with full-bodied or fortified wines.[15]
The cardoon is also grown as an ornamental plant for its imposing architectural appearance, with very bright silvery-grey foliage and large flowers in selected cultivars.[5]
Cardoon has attracted recent attention as a possible source of biodiesel. The oil, extracted from the seeds of the cardoon, and called artichoke oil, is similar to safflower and sunflower oil in composition and use.[16]
Cardoon is the feedstock for the first biorefinery in the world converting the installations of a petrochemical plant in Porto Novo, Sardinia, providing biomass and oils for the building blocks of bioplastics. Matrica, the joint venture of ENI and Novamont, will inaugurate the facility in the Fall of 2013.[17]
§Gallery[edit]
§References[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cynara cardunculus. |
- ^ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". Retrieved 9 July 2014.
- ^ a b c d Sonnante, G., Pignone, D, & Hammer, K. (2007). The Domestication of Artichoke and Cardoon: From Roman Times to the Genomic Age. Ann. Bot. 100: 1095–1100. Full text.
- ^ Malta's Native Flora
- ^ a b Tela Botanica: Cynara cardunculus L. (in French)
- ^ a b c Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan ISBN 0-333-47494-5.
- ^ Euro+Med PlantBase Cynara cardunculus
- ^ "Cynara cardunculus AGM". Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
- ^ a b Plants for a future: Cynara cardunculus
- ^ Conservation of plant genetic resources: Swiss National Database
- ^ Vilmorin-Andrieux, M. & Robinson, W. (1885/undated). The vegetable garden: Illustrations, descriptions, and culture of the garden vegetables of cold and temperate climates. English Edition. Jeavons-Leler Press and Ten Speed Press. 1920 edition in Internet Archive
- ^ Pignone, D, & Sonnante, G. (2004).Wild artichokes of south Italy: did the story begin here? Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 51 (6): 577-580. Abstract
- ^ a b http://www.turismo.navarra.es/esp/organice-viaje/recurso/GastronomiayVinos/3334/Cardo.htm
- ^ http://verduras.consumer.es/documentos/hortalizas/cardo/intro.php
- ^ "Cardoon - General information". Michigan State University Extension. August 3, 1999. Retrieved 2006-11-18.
- ^ "The Wine Spectator, The World's 100 Best Cheeses". 2008.
- ^ "Plant Oils Used for Bio-diesel". BDPedia.com, the Biodiesel WWW Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2006-11-18.
- ^ "Matrica, the joint venture between Polimeri Europa and Novamont created in record tim". Retrieved 2011-06-13.
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Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cardoon&oldid=650506642 |