Echinops ritro explained

Echinops ritro, the southern globethistle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to southern and eastern Europe (from Spain east to Turkey, Ukraine, and Belarus), and western Asia.^[1] The species is sparingly naturalized in scattered locations in Canada and the United States.^{[2] [3]}

It is a compact, bushy herbaceous perennial thistle, growing to 60cm (20inches) tall, with broad prickly leaves and bearing globes of steel-blue flowers 2.5 cm - 4.5 cm in diameter, in late summer.^[4]

Echinops ritro ^[5] and the subspecies E. ritro subsp. ruthenicus^[6] have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Subspecies

• Echinops ritro subsp. meyeri (DC.) Kožuharov
• Echinops ritro subsp. ritro
• Echinops ritro subsp. ruthenicus (M.Bieb.) Nyman
• Echinops ritro subsp. sartorianus (Boiss. & Heldr.) Kožuharov
• Echinops ritro subsp. siculus (Strobl) Greuter
• Echinops ritro subsp. thracicus (Velen.) Kožuharov

Notes and References

1. http://luirig.altervista.org/flora/taxa/index1.php?scientific-name=echinops+ritro Altervista Flora Italiana, Cardo pallottola meridionale, Echinops ritro L.
2. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=200023868 Flora of North America, Echinops ritro Linnaeus
3. http://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Echinops%20ritro.png Biota of North America Program, 2014 county distribution map
4. Book: RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants. 2008. Dorling Kindersley. United Kingdom. 978-1405332965. 1136.
5. Web site: RHS Plant Selector - Echinops ritro. 5 June 2020.
6. Web site: RHS Plant Selector - Echinops ritro subsp. ruthenicus . 5 June 2020.