Flora of Israel: Cynara syriaca

Cynara syriaca, Wild Artichoke, Syrian Wild Artichoke,
Hebrew: קנרס סורי, Arabic: حَرْشَف سوري; خُرْفَيْش الحَمير

Scientific name:   Cynara syriaca Boiss.
Common name:   Wild Artichoke, Syrian Wild Artichoke
Hebrew name:   קנרס סורי
Arabic name:   حَرْشَف سوري; خُرْفَيْش الحَمير
Plant Family:   Compositae / Asteraceae, מורכבים


Life form:   Hemicryptophyte
Spinescence:   Leaves, bracts
Stems:   50–250 cm. herbage ± arachnoid-tomentose. Stems ± erect, simple or branched, (leafy), stout
Leaves:   Alternate, rosette, dissected, pinnate, dentate or serrate, spinescent
Flowers:   Violet, spinescent bracts
Fruits / pods:   Cypselae
Flowering Period:   June, July, August
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   The Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands
Chorotype:   Med – Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Derivation of the botanical name:

Cynara, kynara or kinara, kynaros akantha, the Greek for a spiny plant; Latin cinara, for a kind of artichoke and for a native of the island of Cinara, in the Aegean Sea, now Zinara.

syriaca, Syrian.
The Hebrew name: קנרס, kiners mentioned in the Mishnah Kilayim 5:8: “Artichokes (Kiners) are kilayim in a vineyard”.

  • The standard author abbreviation Boiss. is used to indicate Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810 – 1885), a Swiss botanist, explorer and mathematician.