This is not a question. Today while searching for seed sources of Echinops adenocaulos I was connected to this forum. Someone sent to Iraq in 2009 posted a photo of this native perennial thistle of the Middle East and was asking identity. I took numerous photos of this outstanding blue globe thistle while traveling along the Sea of Galilee in mid April of this year (2013). What a knockout plant! Flowers are almost the size of Allium giganteum