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Carthamus creticus
Also called Smooth Distaff Thistle, Distaff Thistle
Carthamus creticus is a Mediterranean thistle-like wildflower related to safflower, found on dry, open ground. It is a wild species rarely grown on purpose, so it needs sun, sharp drainage and little water.
Carthamus creticus is a plant species in the family Asteraceae, related to safflower.
It is native to the Mediterranean region including Europe (Spain, Portugal, France, Britain, Italy, Greece, Malta, Serbia, Bosnia, etc.), North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Libya) and southwestern Asia (Turkey, Palestine, Cyprus). It is also naturalized in New Zealand and California.
Glaucous Star Thistle · Woolly distaff thistle · Whitestem distaff thistle · Safflower · Distaff thistle · Distaff Thistle
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Carthamus creticus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
