what is it?

Bought a bunch of these at Trader Joe's today and they were not labelled with a name, only in a bin with other bunches of different things all labelled fillers. But I thought they looked interesting and they were the cheapest bunches there.

[George]

No idea what they are but worth buying to photograph. Lovely image.

[CC Folk]

That was my question...what is it? Beautiful capture and interesting! :)

[Shutterbug]

I don’t know what it is for sure, but it looks a lot like a thistle. Love the black background with that gold color.

[Jane Pittenger]

Ice light and against the dark background

[Caroline]

I have never seen anything quite like it, but it does make a very interesting and colorful subject. Nice focus and detail. Fav

[Walks @ 7]

Such clear and sharp details in this unknown beauty.

[Monique]

Defenitely worth buying and photographing 👍

[Lynda McG]

Nice light - fav

[KoalaGardens🐨]

wow they are photographers delight I believe :)

[Margo]

Yes, the colour is wonderful

[Clare Gadsby]

fab colour and detail

[Leslie]

what a different type of flower. maybe we will be able to figure out what it is as it blossoms.

[haskar]

Ah, I love them. We call them thistles although they are only related to them.

[Jean]

@gaf005 @gardenfolk @shutterbug49 @jgpittenger @chejja @joysabin @momamo @lyndamcg @lyndamcg @koalagardens @777margo @pistache @lesip @haskar
Our cousin has identified it as a safflower. From the web:
‘Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) is a highly branched, herbaceous, thistle-like annual plant. It is commercially cultivated for vegetable oil extracted from the seeds and was used by the early Spanish colonies along the Rio Grande as a substitute for saffron.”

[Vesna]

Looks like a artichoke flower.