In full growth an artichoke plant can spread 9 feet in diameter and stand 5 feet tall. Typically a plant will produce about 20 artichokes in a year.

Artichoke seeds, probably cultivated, were discovered when excavating Mons Claudianus, a Roman quarry in eastern Egypt where Black Quartz Diorite was once mined.

The Romans considered artichokes to be an aphrodisiac, and this belief continued up to the 16th Century. During this time women were prohibited from eating them.

Picasso painted his "Woman with an Artichoke" in 1941, in Paris. His work depicts a woman whose features have been distorted and fragmented, perhaps by the terrors of war. Here the artichoke resembles a spiky weapon, like a club, and is held on to defiantly.

 Osias Beert, a Flemish painter of Still Lifes who lived from 1580 until 1624, entitled this painting "Still Life with an Artichoke".

Castroville, California (pop. 6481) proclaims itself to be "The Artichoke Center of the World". Almost the entirety of the U.S. artichoke supply is produced in and around Castroville.

"The World's Largest Artificial Artichoke" is on display here in a parking lot. It was crafted from steel and plaster in 1963.

Every year an Artichoke Festival is held in Castroville. At the first, in 1948, Marilyn Monroe was declared Artichoke Queen.

Cynar is a dark brown bittersweet liquer, still manufactured in Italy by Campari, whose most significant ingredient is an artichoke (Cynara scolymus). It was first launched in 1952 and is apparently especially popular in Switzerland.