I’m grateful for all the beautiful plants Mother Nature created to bring beauty, food, healing, and so much more into our lives.
An artichoke, scientifically known as Cynara scolymus, is actually a flower bud of a thistle plant. If left unharvested, it will develop into a beautiful, large, violet-purple flower.
Here 4 green Artichoke buds in the background are depicted, with one more artichoke bud in the foreground, that developed into a blooming flower. Its thistle-like flower head has numerous small, purple disk florets in the middle, reminding me a little bit of thin tentacles.
The outer layers of the bud are called bracts, which are fleshy, triangular scales that protect the developing flower.
The part we eat, before a flower develops, the "heart", is the fleshy receptacle and base of the leaves (bracts) of this immature flower bud. The "choke" is the inedible, fuzzy part on top of the heart
Gratitude & attitude are not challenges, they are choices.
-Robert Braathe-
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