any plant of the temperate and subtropical perennial umbelliferous genus Eryngium, with distinctive spiny foliage, metallic blue flower heads, and bluish stems, several species of which are grown as garden plants
See also sea holly
Word origin
New Latin, from Latin ēryngion, from Greek ērungion a species of thistle
Examples of 'eryngium' in a sentence
eryngium
Self-seeders such as eryngium and nigella colonise the gravel paths.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
While eryngium are wonderfully trouble-free in dry, chalky or sandy soil, they suffer in heavy ground.