Botanical name: Eryngium caeruleum    Family: Apiaceae (Carrot family)
Synonyms: Eryngium caucasicum, Eryngium planum, Eryngium pskemense

Blue Sea Holly is a perennial spiny herb up to 75 cm tall, bluish. Flowers are born in numerous umbels with nearly spherical heads, subtended by an involucre of 5-6 bracts, sometimes alternating with spines; margin entire or with a pair of spines. Bractlets are linear, pungent, longer than the flowers. Flowers are stalkless in the axils of bractlets. Sepal-cup tube scaly; scales linear to lanceshaped, white. Sepals are 5, lanceshaped, with a short sharp point, 3 mm long with the mucro; mucro as long as the sepal. Stylopodium lacking; styles longer than the sepals In tall plants the lower stem is unbranched. Radical leaves wither away, unidivided, oblong to round; margin rounded toothed; basal leaves long leaf-stalkd, divided; stem leaves stalkless to short-stalked, divided; segments lanceshaped. Blue Sea Holly is found in Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, North Caucasus, Pakistan, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, West Himalaya.

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The flower labeled Blue Sea Holly is ...