Appearance

Appearance

This vegetable grows to 1.4–2 m tall, with arching, deeply lobed, silvery, glaucous-green leaves 50–83 cm long. The flowers develop in a large head from an edible bud about 8–15 cm diameter with numerous triangular scales; the individual florets are purple.

The edible portions of the buds consist primarily of the fleshy lower portions of the involucral bracts and the base, known as the heart.

The edible portion of the plant consists of the flower buds before the flowers come into bloom. The budding artichoke flower-head is a cluster of many budding small flowers (an inflorescence), together with many bracts, on an edible base.

The mass of immature florets in the centre of the bud is called the choke or beard which is inedible, and more prominent in older flowers. Once the buds bloom, the structure changes to a coarse, barely edible form..