globe thistle

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

• noun Any of several Eurasian plants of the genus Echinops in the composite family, having bipinnately dissected leaves with prickly margins and dense, bluish, globose flower heads.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A plant of the genus Echinops, natural order Compositæ: so called from the thistle-like foliage and the globular form of the flower-heads. See cut under Echinops.

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

• noun any of various plants of the genus Echinops having prickly leaves and dense globose heads of bluish flowers