Cirsium setidens


Cirsium setidens, also known as gondre and Korean thistle, is a perennial plant in the genus Cirsium in the aster family. It grows naturally in submontane and mountainous area in Korean peninsula where its young leaves are used as namul. In Korean, it is called goryeo-eongeongkwi and gondeure.

Description

Cirsium setidens is a perennial plant up to tall. Radical leaves and lower cauline ones become withered when the flowers bloom. Mid cauline leaves are arranged alternately, ovate or wide lanceolate, green, and long, with tapering end, spiny or even margins, and leafstalks. The upper space of the leaves is hairy, while the underside is usually white-tinged without hair. Upper cauline leaves are smaller, lanceolate with pointy ends, shorter leafstalks, and spiny margin. The roots are erect.
Purple flowers bloom from July to October. The capitula are quite large – about in diameter. Each capitulum is on the tip of a branch or the main stem. The involucres are bell-shaped, long and wide, with spider-web-like hair. The involucels, with pointy ends and sticky underside, are arranged in seven rows. The corollas are purple, about long. The fruits are achenes, each long. The pappi are brown, about long.

Culinary use

A well-known speciality of Jeongseon is gondeure-namul-bap, a type of namul made with dried gondre, seasoned with perilla oil, and served over rice.