Variegated artichoke

Silybum marianum, the milk thistle, is a stout biennial or annual herb of the Asteraceae family native to the Mediterranean basin and now widely naturalised across temperate and subtropical regions. In its first year it forms a low rosette of large, glossy, deeply lobed leaves marked with bold milky-white veins along the midribs, the margins armed with sharp spines. In the second season a robust, branching stem rises to 1.5 metres or more, terminating in solitary purple-pink flowerheads enclosed by broad, spine-tipped involucral bracts. Flowering occurs in summer, and the heads mature into clusters of black achenes tipped with a silky white pappus. The plant favours disturbed ground, roadsides, and overgrazed pasture in full sun.