Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A Mediterranean plant (Cynara cardunculus) closely related to the artichoke, cultivated for its edible leafstalks and roots.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A thistle.
  • noun The Cynara Cardunculus, a perennial plant belonging to the same genus as the artichoke, and somewhat resembling it.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) A large herbaceous plant (Cynara Cardunculus) related to the artichoke; -- used in cookery and as a salad.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Cynara cardunculus, a prickly perennial plant with impressive purple flowers.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun only parts eaten are roots and especially stalks (blanched and used as celery); related to artichokes
  • noun southern European plant having spiny leaves and purple flowers cultivated for its edible leafstalks and roots

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English cardoun, from Old French cardon, from Old Provençal, from Late Latin cardō, cardōn-, from Latin carduus, wild thistle.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle French cardon, from Medieval Latin cardon, singular form of cardo, from Latin carduus ("thistle").

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Examples

  • Now the cardoon is the European artichoke run wild and its character somewhat altered in a different soil and climate.

    Far Away and Long Ago 1881

  • The Cook's Garden: Seeds and plants for gourmet gardeners, with 110 pages of heirlooms, herbs and quirky vegetables such as cardoon and orange cauliflower.

    ScrippsNews 2010

  • "Texas celery" is sometimes listed as a name variation for "cardoon," but "Texas celery" appears only very rarely in print.

    The Big Apple 2008

  • We recognize the wonderfully painted peaches and pear suggesting the fleshy cheeks and nose of "Vertumnus" (c. 1590), note his peapod eyelids and cardoon moustache, then fleetingly manage to see this paean to abundance as a portrait of the robust Rudolph II, before losing ourselves in cabbage leaves, olives, a blackberry eye, and the glistening cherries of his protruding Hapsburg lip.

    The Proto-Surrealist Karen Wilkin 2010

  • I particularly like the last photo of the blue flowering plant cardoon? with what looks like dragon fruit in the background. catmint said this on January 19, 2009 at 4:44 am | Reply

    UT Blooms Days June 2008 « Fairegarden 2009

  • I did buy a cardoon last year and had it in a large pot, it was a big disappointment, nothing like the one shown in this post.

    UT Blooms Days June 2008 « Fairegarden 2009

  • After seeing your garden, I do believe the cardoon would be totally out of scale, although maybe in a giant pot of some sort.

    UT Blooms Days June 2008 « Fairegarden 2009

  • I love the impressive size of the cardoon, must be the kid in me ? haha

    UT Blooms Days June 2008 « Fairegarden 2009

  • John-It looks to me like the comment from c.c. above is the work of a knowledgeable cardoon grower.

    Looney Tunes, But No Cardoons Lindy 2006

  • I tried to ascertain just when cardoon season was, and ended up weeping in frustration.

    Looney Tunes, But No Cardoons Lindy 2006

  • The cardoon, a relative of the artichoke, is often prepared au gratin.

    The Unlikely Rise of the French Tacos Condé Nast 2021

Comments

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  • "Samphire was aptly paired with marsh mutton; cardoons (a kind of edible thistle) were trickily prepared by stripping and blanching their heads and stalks. Cucumber was eaten fresh or pickled, and the buds (or knops) of alexanders, purslane and broom were pickled like capers, tied into small linen bags and weighed down in a pot of brine until they went black, then boiled and stored in vinegar. Hop buds, astringent enough to make the lips smart, were scattered over salads and stews."

    --Kate Colquhoun, Taste: The Story of Britain Through Its Cooking (NY: Bloomsbury, 2007), 95

    January 8, 2017