Artichoke LeafCynara cardunculus

Did you know?

• The artichoke we eat is a flower bud, picked before it opens. The tender parts are the base of its scales and the heart^{[4, 5]}.

• The globe artichoke and the cardoon belong to the same species, and the wild cardoon is the artichoke's ancestor^{[2, 4, 5]}.

• The word "artichoke" entered English in the 1530s from the northern Italian articiocco, which goes back through Old Spanish alcarchofa to the Arabic al-hursufa^[7].

• In the Roman Empire, the artichoke was enjoyed as a delicacy and valued as an aid to digestion^{[2, 5]}.

• The plant grows to about 2 meters (6 feet) tall, with silvery, deeply lobed leaves that can reach almost a meter long^{[2, 4, 5]}.

• It is not the same plant as the Jerusalem artichoke, a sunflower (Helianthus tuberosus) grown for its edible tubers^{[4, 5]}.

Origins and history

The artichoke is a thistle, and it looks like one: a tall perennial with a strong, upright stem, arching silvery-green leaves and big, scaly flower heads^{[2, 4, 5]}. It comes from the western Mediterranean, North Africa and the Canary Islands^{[2, 3, 4]}. Its wild ancestor is the cardoon, and botanists now place the cardoon and the globe artichoke in the same species, Cynara cardunculus^{[2, 3, 4, 5]}.

People around the Mediterranean domesticated it in ancient times, and it was grown in ancient Greece and Rome^{[2, 4]}. The Romans ate it as a delicacy and valued it as an aid to digestion^{[2, 5]}. The globe artichoke as we know it appeared in Italy in the fifteenth century, first grown around Naples^{[2, 4, 7]}. From Italy it spread across Europe: tradition says that Catherine de' Medici brought it to France^[2], and it reached England in the reign of Henry VIII^[7]. Its name tells a longer story: English borrowed it from Italian, Italian from Spanish, and Spanish from Arabic^[7]. In Spanish it is still alcachofa, in Portuguese alcachofra and in Italian carciofo^[6]. Today artichokes are grown around the Mediterranean and in the Americas^[4].

Cooks prize the bud, but in European herbal tradition it is the bitter leaf that matters. Artichoke leaf has long been taken there as a tea or extract for digestive comfort, and in France and Germany it has also been valued for the liver^{[2, 5]}. The European Medicines Agency has published an EU herbal monograph on artichoke leaf, based on its long traditional use^{[1, 2]}. In South America, Brazil's Ministry of Health includes artichoke, as Cynara scolymus, among the 71 plants on RENISUS, its list of plants of interest to the public health system^[8].

Traditional uses

Artichoke leaf has a long, well-documented place in European herbal tradition, and the European Medicines Agency's monograph recognizes its traditional use for digestive comfort^{[1, 2]}.

• A bitter leaf tea

  The dried, cut leaves are steeped in hot water and drunk as a tea, traditionally for digestive comfort.*^{[1, 2]}

• Healthy digestion

  Artichoke leaf supports healthy digestion.*^{[1, 5]}

• Bile flow

  Artichoke leaf supports healthy bile flow and digestion.*^{[2, 5]}

• Liver function

  Artichoke leaf supports healthy liver function.*^{[2, 5]}

Plant compounds

Artichoke leaf contains caffeoylquinic acids, including cynarin and chlorogenic acid, and flavonoids based on luteolin^{[2, 5]}. Its bitterness comes from sesquiterpene lactones such as cynaropicrin and grosheimin^{[2, 5]}.