Archived Globe Artichoke

I took a number of photos of this fascinating Globe Artichoke flower that was growing in the gardens at the Calgary Zoo, on 25 September 2012. When I walked around to the other side of the plant, the bokeh from some distant flowers was so colourful - posted some of these shots a long time ago.

"The globe artichoke is a variety of a species of thistle cultivated as a food. 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. Once the buds bloom the structure changes to a coarse, barely edible form. The uncultivated or wild variety of the species is called a cardoon. It is a perennial plant native to the Mediterranean region." From Wikipedia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artichoke