Eryngium creticum
Eryngium creticum, commonly known as field eryngo, is a flowering plant in the carrot family (Apiaceae). It is native to the Northern and Eastern Mediterranean, from Greece and Turkey to Iran, and has become naturalized in some other places. In Lebanon it is called قرصعنة and in Israel חרחבינה מכחילה.
The plant has blue flower heads on slender blue stems. The lowest leaves form a circular rosette at the base, while the leaves higher up on the stem are broader and toothier. Each flower head is surrounded by small spine-like leaves, and every tiny flower has a three-part spine. It grows along field and path edges, in rocky and waste places, and tolerates poor soil. It is self-fertile and is pollinated by bees, beetles, and flies.
Eryngium creticum is native to the Northern and Eastern Mediterranean, eastward to Iran, and is native in Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Crete, Lebanon-Syria, the NW Balkan Peninsula, Palestine, Sinai, and Turkey; it has been introduced into France. The name creticum comes from Crete.
Medicinally, its stems are used to make an anti-tussive tea and to treat kidney inflammation. It is also used in Jordan to treat scorpion stings and to help with hypoglycemia.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 16:59 (CET).