cardoon

• cardon, chardon, chardoon (obsolete)

Borrowed from Middle French cardon, from Medieval Latin cardon, singular form of cardo, from Latin carduus (“thistle”).

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cardoon (plural cardoons)

1. Cynara cardunculus, a prickly perennial plant related to the artichoke which has leaf stalks eaten as a vegetable.
   • 1611, Randle Cotgrave, A dictionarie of the French and English tongues‎:

     Means: m. Void, and emptie places between beds in gardens, reserved for speciall hearbes; such are the spaces left for Cardoons betweene rowes of Onyons.

   • 1839, Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle:

     As I have already said, I nowhere saw the cardoon south of the Salado; but it is probable that in proportion as that country becomes inhabited, the cardoon will extend its limits.

   • 2001, Clifford A. Wright, Mediterranean Vegetables: A Cook's ABC of Vegetables and Their Preparation‎:

     In the sixteenth century, Ruellius speaks of the cardoon as a food that was appreciated as asparagus is today.

• (perennial plant): artichoke thistle, ground thistle, prickly artichoke