Echinops

Echinops is a genus of about 130 species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, commonly known as globe thistles. They have spiny foliage and produce blue or white spherical flower heads. They are distributed from central Asia, Mongolia and north-eastern China to the Mediterranean basin, temperate regions of Eurasia, reaching to Indian subcontinent and tropical Africa. Globe thistle is the host plant of weevil Larinus vulpes. Many species belonging to the genus Echinops are traditionally used as medicinals mainly in Africa and Asia. The genus is reported to contain diverse secondary metabolites. More than 151 secondary metabolites have been reported in this genus which thiophenic compounds held the biggest share. Various extracts, essential oils, and isolated compounds from members of this genus are shown to exhibit different biological effects mainly anti-microbial, anti-proliferative, and anti-inflammatory. However, there are a number of species in this genus that are claimed to have traditional medicinal uses but their biological effect not yet been evaluated.

The common traditional uses can fall into three general groups. The frequently described application is to treat symptoms like inflammation, pain, and fever. The other common traditional uses is to treat ailments related to respiratory tract including cough and sore throat. Members of the genus have been used as an aphrodisiac, facilitation of expulsion of retained placenta and delivery, as an abortifacient, treatment of uterus tumor and leucorrhoea.

== Characteristics ==

Vegetative charactreistic
The globe thistle species are perennial herbaceous plants. They form rhizomes as perennial organs. The independently upright stems are angular. The alternately arranged leaves are one to two-pinnately divided and white, woolly and tomentose on the underside.

Generative features
The capitulas are single-flowered, have a hermaphrodite tubular flower and are surrounded by a multi-rowed sheath. Numerous capitulas form spherical inflorescences of the second order, which have a diameter of 4 to 8 centimeters. The capitulas bloom from top to bottom within a head. The corolla is tubular, divided almost to the base. The flower color is steel blue to white, the inflorescences as a whole are usually bluish. The stamens are blue-gray. The achenes are cylindrical, pentagonal and hairy. The pappus has short scales.

Selected species
Species include:


 * Echinops adenocaulos
 * Echinops amplexicaulis
 * Echinops bannaticus
 * Echinops ceratophorus
 * Echinops chantavicus
 * Echinops echinatus
 * Echinops exaltatus
 * Echinops giganteus
 * Echinops gmelinii
 * Echinops graecus
 * Echinops humilis
 * Echinops kotschyi
 * Echinops latifolius
 * Echinops longisetus"
 * Echinops macrophyllus
 * Echinops nivens
 * Echinops niveus
 * Echinops orientalis
 * Echinops persepolitanus
 * Echinops ritro (syn. Echinops ruthenicus)
 * Echinops sahyadricus
 * Echinops setifer
 * Echinops sphaerocephalus
 * Echinops spinosissimus
 * Echinops tournefortii
 * Echinops tschimganicus