The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Eryngium
Also called Sea Hollies, Eryngos, Sea Holly
Eryngium is a genus of about 250 species of spiny perennial and annual herbs in the carrot family, grown for their steely blue or white thistle-like flowers. Most garden plants are sun-loving perennials, and Sea Holly (E. maritimum and E. planum) and Eryngo (E. foetidum) are common examples; the key to growing them is good drainage and full sun.
Eryngium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae. There are about 250 species. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with centres of diversity in the western Mediterranean, South America and Mexico. Common names include eryngo and sea holly (though not to be confused with true hollies, of the genus Ilex). Less commonly known as sea thistle, although they are not true thistles (family Asteraceae).
These are annual and perennial herbs with hairless and usually spiny leaves. The dome-shaped umbels of steely blue or white flowers have whorls of spiny basal bracts. European and Asian species tend to be native to dry, rocky and coastal areas, and the American species are native to often damp grasslands.
Amethyst Eryngo · Field eryngo · Spiritweed · Giant sea holly · Sea-holly · Giant Sea Holly · Button eryngo
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Eryngium 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.
