What is "onopordum"

n. (context botany English) Any of the genus ''Onopordum'' of asteraceous thistles.

Onopordum L., cottonthistle, is a genus of plants in the thistle tribe within the Asteraceae. They are native to southern Europe, northern Africa, the Canary Islands, the Caucasus, and southwest and central Asia. They grow on disturbed land, roadsides, arable land and pastures.

They are biennials (rarely short-lived perennials) with branched, spinose winged stems, growing 0.5–3 m tall. In the first season they form a basal rosette of gray-green felted leaves and rarely a few flower heads. In the second season they grow rapidly to their final height, flowering extensively, and then die off after seed maturation.

The leaves are dentate or shallowly lobed to compound with several pinnatifid or deeply cut leaflets, and strongly spiny. The terminal flower head is typical for thistles, a semi-spherical to ovoid capitulum with purple (seldom white or pink) disc florets. There are no ray florets. The receptacle is glabrous with dentate margins. The tube of the corolla is slender, sac-shaped and symmetrical. The anthers have awl-shaped outgrowths on the top. The capitula have several overlapping rows of leathery basal simple linear-lanceolate spines. These are smooth to slightly pubescent.

These plants propagate only by seed. The seed heads mature in mid-summer, releasing their seeds. The fruit is a glabrous achene, 4–6 mm long and with 4-50 ribs. The pappus consists of many rows of simple, fine to minutely rough hairs, united in a circular base.

Onopordum species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Coleophora onopordiella (feeds exclusively on O. acanthium).

In the Greek island of Crete a native species called agriagginara (αγριαγγινάρα) or koufoti (κουφωτοί) has its heads (flowers) and tender leaves eaten raw by the locals.

1. Onopordum acanthium L. - Cotton Thistle, Scotch thistle, Scotch common-thistle, heraldic thistle, woolly thistle - widespread across Europe and temperate Asia
2. Onopordum acaulon L. - Stemless thistle, horse thistle - France, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia
3. Onopordum alexandrinum Boiss. - Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan
4. Onopordum algeriense (Munby) Pomel - Algeria
5. Onopordum ambiguum Fresen. - Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan
6. Onopordum anatolicum (Boiss.) Eig. - Turkey
7. Onopordum arenarium M.Hossain & M.A.A.Al-Sarraf - Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya
8. Onopordum armenum Grossh. - Caucasus, Iran, Turkey
9. Onopordum blancheanum (Eig) Danin - Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon
10. Onopordum boissierianum Raab-Straube & Greuter - Turkey
11. Onopordum bracteatum Boiss. & Heldr. - Greece, Turkey, Cyprus
12. Onopordum canum Eig - Iran, Jordan, Israel, Turkey
13. Onopordum carduchorum Bornm. & Beauverd - Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iran
14. Onopordum carduelium Bolle - Canary Islands
15. Onopordum carduiforme Boiss. - Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan
16. Onopordum carmanicum (Bornm.) Bornm. - Iran
17. Onopordum caulescens d'Urv. - Greece
18. Onopordum cinereum Grossh. - Caucasus, Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan
19. Onopordum corymbosum Willk. - France, Spain
20. Onopordum cynarocephalum Boiss. & Blanche - Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan
21. Onopordum cyrenaicum Maire & Weiller - Libya
22. Onopordum dissectum Murb. - Spain, Morocco
23. Onopordum dyris Maire - Morocco
24. Onopordum elongatum Lam.
25. Onopordum eriocephalum Rouy - France
26. Onopordum espinae Coss.
27. Onopordum heteracanthum C.A.Mey. - Caucasus, Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia
28. Onopordum horridum Viv. - Italy
29. Onopordum illyricum L. - Illyrian Thistle, Illyrian Cottonthistle - Mediterranean
30. Onopordum leptolepis DC. - from Palestine to Altay + Xinjiang
31. Onopordum macracanthum Schousb. - Spain, Portugal, Italy, Morocco, Algeria
32. Onopordum macrocanthum d'Urv.
33. Onopordum macrocephalum Eig - Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan
34. Onopordum mesatlanticum Emb. & Maire - Morocco
35. Onopordum micropterum Pau - Spain, Canary Islands
36. Onopordum minor L. - Iran
37. Onopordum myriacanthum Boiss. - Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria
38. Onopordum nervosum Boiss. - Moor's cottonthistle - Spain, Portugal
39. Onopordum parnassicum Boiss. & Heldr. - Greece, Turkey
40. Onopordum platylepis (Coss. ex Murb.) Murb. - Libya, Tunisia
41. Onopordum polycephalum Boiss. - Turkey
42. Onopordum prjachinii Tamamsch. - Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
43. Onopordum seravschanicum Tamamsch. - Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
44. Onopordum sibthorpianum Boiss. & Heldr. - Greece, Sicily, Malta, Turkey, Macedonia, Saudi Arabia
45. Onopordum tauricum Willd. - Turkish thistle, Taurian thistle, Taurus cottonthistle, bull cottonthistle - southern + central Europe, Ukraine, Middle East
46. Onopordum turcicum Danin - Turkey
47. Onopordum wallianum Maire - Morocco

• Onopordum × brevicaule (Onopordum acaulon × Onopordum acanthium )
• Onopordum × erectum (Onopordum nervosum ssp. castellanum × Onopordum tauricum ssp. corymbosum )
• Onopordum × macronervosum (Onopordum nervosum × Onopordum macrocanthum)
• Onopordum × onubense (Onopordum dissectum × Onopordum macrocanthum)
• Onopordum × spinosissimum (Onopordum illyricum × Onopordum acanthium)