Sea Holly

The Sea Holly (biological binomial term: Eryngium maritimum) is a species of Eryngium in the plant family Apiaceae and native to most European coastlines. In some ways it resembles a flowering thistle, in that its flower is burr-shaped, though these are metallic blue, rather than mauve. The flowers above are not blue, but I have seen the blue ones elsewhere. I took this photo in a friend's garden this morning, but we have seen it growing wild, too. Sea Holly was nominated the 2002 County flower for the city of Liverpool, England.