Gundelia tournefortii

Gundelia
Gundelia tournefortii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Tribe:	Cichorieae
Genus:	Gundelia L.
Type species
Gundelia tournefortii L.
Synonyms
Gundelsheimera Cass.

Gundelsheimera Cass.

Gundelia is a low to high (20–100 cm) thistle-like perennial herbaceous plant with latex, spiny compound inflorescences, reminiscent of teasles and eryngos, that contain cream, yellow, greenish, pink, purple or redish-purple disk florets. It is assigned to the daisy family. Flowers can be found from February to May. The stems of this plant dry-out when the seeds are ripe and break free from the underground root, and are then blown away like a tumbleweed, thus spreading the seeds effectively over large areas with little standing vegetation. This plant is native to the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle-East. Opinions differ about the number of species in Gundelia. Sometimes the genus is regarded monotypic, Gundelia tournefortii being a species with a large variability, but other authors distinguish up to nine species, differing in floret color and pubescence. Young stems are cooked and eaten in the Middle-East and are said to taste like a combination of artichoke and asparagus. The plant also contains compounds that have been demonstrated to be effective against a range of ailments. A large quantity of pollen assigned to Gundelia has been found on the Shroud of Turin, which may suggest that the crown of thorns was made from Gundelia, but this finding has been contested.

It's called Akkoub (Arabic: عكوب‎) in Arabic, silifa in Greek, Akuvit ha-Galgal (Hebrew: עַכּוּבִית הַגַּלְגַּל‎) in Hebrew, Kangar (Armenian: կանկառ) in Armenian and Persian, Kenger in Turkish, and Kereng in Kurdish. It's called tumble thistle in English.

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Wikipedia