Echinops ritro


Echinops ritro, the southern globethistle, is a species of flowering plant in the sunflower family, native to southern and eastern Europe, and western Asia. The species is sparingly naturalized in scattered locations in the United States.
Echinops ritro is a compact, bushy herbaceous perennial thistle, growing to tall, with broad prickly leaves and bearing globes of steel-blue flowers 2.5 cm - 4.5 cm in diameter, in late summer.
Echinops ritro and the subspecies E. ritro subsp. ruthenicus have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
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