Eryngium

Eryngium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae. There are about 250 species. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the center of diversity in South America. Common names include eryngo and sea holly (though not to be confused with true hollies, of the genus Ilex).

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. Some species are native to rocky and coastal areas, but the majority are grassland plants.

In the language of flowers, they represent admiration.

Species
Species include:


 * Eryngium agavifolium Griseb. - agave-leaved sea holly
 * Eryngium alismifolium - Modoc eryngo
 * Eryngium alpinum - alpine eryngo
 * Eryngium amethystinum - amethyst eryngo
 * Eryngium aquaticum - rattlesnake master
 * Eryngium aristulatum - California eryngo
 * Eryngium armatum - coastal eryngo
 * Eryngium aromaticum - fragrant eryngo
 * Eryngium articulatum - beethistle
 * Eryngium baldwinii – Baldwin's eryngo
 * Eryngium billardieri
 * Eryngium bourgatii - Bourgati's eryngo
 * Eryngium bromelifolium
 * Eryngium caeruleum
 * Eryngium campestre - field eryngo
 * Eryngium carlinae - gravatá
 * Eryngium castrense - Great Valley eryngo
 * Eryngium constancei - Loch Lomond coyote thistle
 * Eryngium corniculatum
 * Eryngium coucasicum - An herb form Northern Iran known as choochagh
 * Eryngium creticum
 * Eryngium cuneifolium - wedgeleaf eryngo, snakeroot
 * Eryngium depressum
 * Eryngium dichotomum
 * Eryngium diffusum – spreading eryngo
 * Eryngium dilatatum
 * Eryngium divaricatum – ballast eryngo
 * Eryngium dorae
 * Eryngium duriaei
 * Eryngium ebracteatum
 * Eryngium eburneum
 * Eryngium elegans
 * Eryngium foetidum - false coriander, stinkweed, culantro
 * Eryngium giganteum - giant sea holly, Miss Wilmott's ghost
 * Eryngium glaciale
 * Eryngium heterophyllum - Mexican thistle, Wright's eryngo
 * Eryngium hookeri - Hooker's eryngo
 * Eryngium humile
 * Eryngium inaccessum
 * Eryngium integrifolium – blueflower eryngo
 * Eryngium jaliscense
 * Eryngium leavenworthii - Leavenworth's eryngo
 * Eryngium lemmonii – Chiricahua Mountain eryngo
 * Eryngium maritimum - sea holly, seaside eryngo
 * Eryngium mathiasiae – Mathias' eryngo
 * Eryngium monocephalum
 * Eryngium nasturtiifolium – hierba del sapo
 * Eryngium nudicaule
 * Eryngium ombrophilum
 * Eryngium ovinum - blue devil
 * Eryngium palmatum
 * Eryngium paludosum - long eryngium
 * Eryngium pandanifolium
 * Eryngium paniculatum
 * Eryngium pectinatum
 * Eryngium pendletonense - Pendleton button-celery
 * Eryngium petiolatum – rushleaf eryngo, Oregon coyote thistle
 * Eryngium phyteumae – Huachuca Mountain eryngo
 * Eryngium pinnatifidum - blue devils
 * Eryngium pinnatisectum – Tuolumne eryngo
 * Eryngium planum - blue eryngo, plains eryngo
 * Eryngium prostratum - creeping eryngo
 * Eryngium proteiflorum
 * Eryngium racemosum – delta eryngo
 * Eryngium rostratum - blue devil
 * Eryngium sanguisorba
 * Eryngium serbicum
 * Eryngium serra
 * Eryngium sparganophyllum – Arizona eryngo
 * Eryngium spinosepalum - spinysepal eryngo
 * Eryngium tenue
 * Eryngium tricuspidatum
 * Eryngium triquetrum
 * Eryngium variifolium - Moroccan sea holly
 * Eryngium vaseyi - coyote thistle
 * Eryngium vesiculosum - prickfoot
 * Eryngium viviparum
 * Eryngium yuccifolium - rattlesnake master, button snakeroot

Uses
Species are grown as ornamental plants in gardens. Numerous hybrids have been selected for garden use, of which E. × oliverianum and E. × tripartitum have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Another is E. x zabelii 'Big Blue', whose parentage is E. alpinum x E. bourgatii.

Many species of Eryngium have been used as food and medicine. Eryngium campestre is used as a folk medicine in Turkey. In Iran, Eryngium (Boghnagh فارسی- بوقناق) is used as herbal tea to lower blood sugar. Eryngium creticum is a herbal remedy for scorpion stings in Jordan. Eryngium elegans is used in Argentina and Eryngium foetidum in Latin America and South-East Asia. Native American peoples used many species for varied purposes. Cultures worldwide have used Eryngium extracts as anti-inflammatory agents. Eryngium yields an essential oil and contains many kinds of terpenoids, saponins, flavonoids, coumarins, and steroids.

The roots have been used as vegetables or sweetmeats. Young shoots and leaves are sometimes used as vegetables like asparagus. E. foetidum is used as a culinary herb in tropical parts of the Americas and Asia. It tastes similar to coriander or cilantro, and is sometimes mistaken for it. It may be called spiny coriander or culantro, or by its Vietnamese name of Ngo Gai.