Notobasis syriaca
(L.) Cass.
Syrian thistle
(c) Uriah Resheff, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Uriah Resheff
(c) Martin A. Prinz, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Stem, Roots, Leaves, Shoots
Young leaves and stems are eaten raw or boiled, typically served with bread and goat's cheese; stems are peeled before eating.
Where to Find It
It is a Mediterranean plant. It grows in dry soils. It can grow in arid places.
Africa, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Canary Islands, Caucasus, Cyprus, Egypt, Europe, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Libya, Mediterranean, Middle East, North Africa, Palestine, Portugal, Sicily, Spain, Syria, Turkey, Türkiye,
How to Identify
An annual herb of the Mediterranean region that grows in dry to arid soils. The young leaves, stems, shoots, and roots are edible portions of the plant.
Wikipedia
Source ↗Notobasis syriaca, or the Syrian thistle, is a species of flowering plant in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region and the Middle East, from Madeira, the Canary Islands, Morocco and Portugal east to Egypt, Iran and Azerbaijan. It is an annual plant belonging to the semi-desert flora, growing to 30–100 cm tall. The leaves are spirally arranged on the stems, deeply lobed, grey-green with white veins, and sharp spines on the margins and apex. The flowers are purple, produced in a dense flowerhead (capitulum) 2 cm diameter, surrounded by several spiny basal bracts. In the Greek island of Crete, where it is called agavanos (αγκάβανος), its tender shoots are peeled and eaten raw by the local people. It is naturalised in Australia.
Names & Synonyms
Akcadiken, Aynbeloqe, Chawbazza, Kelbese belek, Kerbese karan, Khurfaish, Lamanna, Nerokavlos, Patsalokavlos, Piscialasinu, Sutlegen, Tuzlu gavulya, Yavankenker
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